Book chapter
Diseases Transmitted by Birds
Infections of Leisure, pp 151-170
28 Feb 2016
Abstract
Infectious diseases can be transmitted to humans from birds by one of several mechanisms (Table 1). In group 1 infections, birds are the natural reservoirs for the infectious agent, which causes illness among them. The diseased birds then disseminate the infectious agent into the environment, and humans become infected as accidental hosts. Examples of such infections include psittacosis, Newcastle disease, avian influenza, and yersiniosis. In group 2 and 3 infections, birds are the natural reservoirs for the infectious agent but do not become ill themselves. The infectious agents of group 2 infections (for example, salmonellosis and mite infections) disseminate from the colonized birds into the environment directly, and the agents of group 3 infections (for example, eastern equine encephalitis [EEE], western equine encephalitis [WEE], St. Louis encephalitis [SLE], and Japanese B encephalitis [JE]) disseminate by means of arthropod vectors and involve humans as accidental hosts. With group 4 infections, birds are not the natural reservoirs, but they facilitate growth of the organisms in the environment by means of their fecal matter. Examples of infections of the last category include the fungal diseases histoplasmosis and cryptococcosis.
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2 citations in Scopus
Details
- Title
- Diseases Transmitted by Birds
- Creators
- Matthew E Levison - Drexel University; Bryn Mawr PA 19010
- Contributors
- David Schlossberg (Editor)
- Publication Details
- Infections of Leisure, pp 151-170
- Publisher
- ASM Press; Washington, DC, USA
- Number of pages
- 20
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Medicine (Graduate)
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85102323164
- Other Identifier
- 991019174895904721