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Psittacosis in a highly endemic area in Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2009

C. Maffei ,
A. Marracino ,
F. Di Stanislao ,
P. Pauri ,
M. Clementi  and
P. E. Varaldo
C. Maffei
Affiliation:
Institute of Hygiene, University of Ancona Medical School, Via Ranieri, 60131 Ancona, Italy
A. Marracino
Affiliation:
Institute of Hygiene, University of Ancona Medical School, Via Ranieri, 60131 Ancona, Italy
F. Di Stanislao
Affiliation:
Institute of Hygiene, University of Ancona Medical School, Via Ranieri, 60131 Ancona, Italy
P. Pauri
Affiliation:
Institute of Microbiology, University of Ancona Medical School, Via Ranieri, 60131 Ancona, Italy
M. Clementi
Affiliation:
Institute of Microbiology, University of Ancona Medical School, Via Ranieri, 60131 Ancona, Italy
P. E. Varaldo
Affiliation:
Institute of Microbiology, University of Ancona Medical School, Via Ranieri, 60131 Ancona, Italy
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Summary

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In one locality in Italy where the incidence of psittacosis has increased rapidly since 1980, a hospital-based study and a seroepidemiological survey were carried out in order to define the clinical and epidemiological features of psittacosis in that area.

Registers of the Virology Unit of the University of Ancona, Italy, were reviewed and all hospitalized patients with a serological diagnosis of psittacosis were identified. A total of 76 cases were found and studied. A presumptive bird source was identified in 80% of 62 patients, on whom a detailed investigation had been possible. Poultry represented the most frequent probable source of infection. Clinically, the predominant pattern of illness was a moderately severe lower respiratory tract infection, with chest X-rays showing pulmonary shadowings in 68 patients (89%).

In the seroepidemiological study, 51 out of 143 subjects were exposed to birds (35·7%), but only 7 out of 90 urban adult blood donors (7·3%) were positive for chlamydial antibodies using the microimmunofluorescence test.

Type
Research Article
Information
Epidemiology & Infection , Volume 99 , Issue 2 , October 1987 , pp. 413 - 419
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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