Symptoms And Treatment Of Chlamydiosis

Introduction

Chlamydiosis is a type of infection that is caused by chlamydia psittaci bacterium. It is mainly evident in birds but mostly parrots. This infection is easily transmitted to humans through respiratory secretions. As such, it is important to know the main source of chlamydiosis may be quite difficult simply because the birds that have been infected may not show symptoms as soon as possible. For those people who handle birds, they can easily get chlamydiosis, making it imperative for them to take the necessary precautions.

Chlamydiosis mostly contaminates the fecal matter, urine, saliva and nasal infections of birds, and if human beings happen to breathe in the matter that has been infected, they may easily contact chlamydiosis easily.

Symptoms of Chlamydiosis

Some of the common symptoms that come with chlamydiosis in birds that are easily noticeable include the following:

• An infected bird will happen to diarrhea continuously, which in turn may cause the bird to look as if it is malnourished. This is because the infected bird may not be able to eat as required making it to lose weight.
• The other symptom of chlamydiosis is discharge coming from the bird’s eyes or nose. This discharge may easily be noticed in some birds while it might be absent in other birds.
• Poor appetite and an appearance that may seem ruffled are other symptoms that a bird has been infected with chlamydiosis.

In humans, the symptoms may be present or absent. Some of the common symptoms of chlamydiosis in humans include:

• High fever that may not go away quickly unless necessary treatment is taken.
• Uncontrollable coughing accompanied with severe headaches.
• Difficulty in breathing that may be severe if not taken care of early enough.

Treatment of Chlamydiosis

The best thing is that chlamydiosis responds well to treatment especially if diagnosed early enough. This is good news as bird owners do not need to get rid of them. Some of the treatments that are provided in order to curb chlamydiosis include the following:

• One of the best treatments of chlamydiosis is through the use of antibiotics such as tetracycline and doxycycline to various people who have been infected by this disease. The treatment in human beings takes about twenty one days so that the response to chlamydiosis can be received positively.
• Birds that have been infected by chlamydiosis are provided with the same treatment of antibiotics although the duration tends to vary. The treatment in birds is supposed to last for forty five days. When this is done, all the infected birds are supposed to be put in isolation from all the birds that are not infected. In addition to this, minimal human contact is required in order to reduce any risk of infection.

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