Psittacosis the 1920s–1930s outbreak in humans, a specific reservoir for serovar E has not been identified. The M56 and WC serovars were isolated during outbreaks in mammals. Treatment is usually with antibiotics, such as doxycycline or tetracycline, and can be administered through drops in the water or injections. Many strains of "C. psittaci" are susceptible to bacteriophages. Psittacosis was one of more than a dozen agents that the United States researched as potential biological weapons before the nation suspended its biological weapons program. The most high-profile death caused by parrot fever is that of Thea Selway, mother of Radiohead drummer and
Contagious disease Contagious disease A contagious disease is a subset category of transmissible diseases, which are transmitted to other persons, either by physical contact with the person suffering the disease, or by casual contact with their secretions or objects touched by them or airborne route among other routes. Non-contagious infections, by contrast, usually require a special mode of transmission between persons or hosts. These include need for intermediate vector species (mosquitoes that carry malaria) or by non-casual transfer of bodily fluid (such as transfusions, needle sharing or sexual contact). The boundary between contagious and non-contagious infectious diseases is not perfectly drawn, as