i4o8 THE ENTEROIDEA GROUP OF TROPICAL FEVERS 



VARIETIES OF PARENTERIC. 



In the general account we have given of par enteric we have stated 

 (see iEtiology) that aetiologically very numerous varieties might be 

 differentiated, but we have limited ourselves to distinguish six chief 

 types in relation to the six principal groups of intestinal bacilli 

 which may cause the condition. We consider, however, it advisable 

 to give a brief separate description of certain varieties of parenteric 

 which have been more completely worked out. These are : — 



Psittacosis parenteric. 

 Alkaligenes parenteric. 

 C olumb ensis p ar ent er ic . 

 Archibaldi parenteric. 

 Asiaticus parenteric. 

 Khartoumensis parenteric. 



Psittacosis Parenteric. 



Definition. — A very fatal specific epizootic among parrots, which is capable 

 of spreading to man and causing a febrile condition resembling typhoid fever 

 in its characters, and which is very liable to be complicated with severe 

 pneumonia. 



History. — Ritter, in 1 879, was the first to suspect that there was a connection 

 between small epidemics of pneumonia limited to certain houses and an illness 

 among parrots in the same houses. In 1880 Eberth obtained large numbers 

 of micrococci from the bodies of grey parrots, Ritter 's observations were 

 confirmed by Ost of Berne, in 1882, and by Wagner of Leipsic, in 1885. In 

 1892, 500 parrots were shipped from South America for Paris, but no less 

 than 300 died en route from enteritis. On arrival in Paris the surviving birds 

 were divided into two lots, and sold to various people, with a result that 

 within twenty-six days of their arrival an epidemic of psittacosis broke out, 

 which resulted in forty-nine cases, with sixteen deaths. The epidemic was 

 characterized by being of the house type, by which is meant that several persons 

 in the same house were attacked by the complaint. 



Smaller epidemics occurred in 1893 and 1894, and in the same year Banti, 

 Malenchini, and Palamidessi reported an epidemic in Florence. In 1895 

 there were outbreaks at Prato, Cologne, and Paris; in 1897 at Genoa; in 1898 

 at Cologne; in 1901 at South Elpidio, Ancona, and Hull; in 1904 at New 

 Hampshire, one of the Eastern United States of America. Beddoes in 191 4 

 reported several cases in England, We have seen epidemic enteritis of this 

 nature develop in parrots in the Sudan, but prophylactic measures being 

 immediately instituted it did not spread to man, 



etiology. — The disease is apparently due to a bacillus belonging to the 

 genus Salmonella Lignieres of our classification, first isolated from the wings of 

 parrots which had died from the disease by Nocard in 1893, and subsequently 

 found by Gilbert and Fournier in 1 897 in the intestine of the sick birds, and also 

 in the heart-blood of a man who died from the disease. The bacillus in question 

 is pathogenic for parrots and other birds. It is possible that this bacillus 

 exists normally in parrots, and only becomes pathogenic under circumstances 

 of bad hygiene, when it causes an enteritis. The feathers, becoming contamin- 

 ated with f gecal matter, are cleaned by the parrot with its tongue in the usual 

 way, so that its mouth and bill become infected, and by this means the disease 

 is spread to persons who feed or caress the bird. Very rarely the disease 

 spreads from man to man. According to Bainbridge, Bacillus psittacosis is 

 identical with B. aertryke (p. 954). 



Pathology. — In parrots the disease causes a very fatal form of enteritis. 

 In man it produces a septicaemia, often complicated by a pneumonia, brought 

 about as a rule by the pneumococcus. 



