Psittacosis Europe in 1879. In 1929, a highly publicized outbreak of psittacosis hit the United States. Although not the first report of psittacosis in the United States, it was the largest up to that time. It led to greater controls on the import of pet parrots. The aftermath of the outbreak and how it was handled led to the establishment of the National Institutes of Health. From 2002 through 2009, 66 human cases of psittacosis were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and most resulted from exposure to infected pet birds, usually cockatiels, parakeets, and macaws. Many more
Germ theory of disease of contagion stating that specific 'animalculae' in the soil and the air were responsible for causing specific diseases. Von Plenciz noted the distinction between diseases which are both epidemic and contagious (like measles and dysentry), and diseases which are contagious but not epidemic (like rabies and leprosy). The book cites Anton van Leeuwenhoek to show how ubiquitous such animalculae are, and was unique for describing the presence of germs in ulcerating wounds. Ultimately, the theory espoused by von Plenciz was not accepted by the scientific community. The Italian Agostino Bassi was the first person to prove that a disease was