Five people have died and dozens more have been hospitalized as “parrot fever” sweeps across Europe, the World Health Organization revealed Tuesday.
In Dec. 2023, the Daily Caller reported a notable uptick in cases of “parrot fever,” a strange yet mild sickness that can quickly evolve into severe pneumonia and meningitis, across Sweden. By Feb. 2024, Austria, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands joined Sweden in reporting increases in the number of cases, according to the WHO’s disease outbreak alert. Five deaths have been reported thus far as well as dozens of cases across western Europe.
The bacterial disease is really called “psittacosis” and spreads through wild and pet birds, such as parrots, parakeets and others. It can also spread through dogs, cats, horses, ruminants, swine and reptiles, WHO noted. The disease is treatable so long as antibiotics are administered in a timely manner and there are no complications.
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Austria only sees between one and four cases of psittacosis per year, but there were 14 confirmed cases in 2023 and four more since the start of 2024, according to the WHO. None of these individual cases reported traveling abroad or contact with wild birds, so it is unclear how they contracted the disease.
Though some of the other individual cases across Europe reported contact with wild birds via things like bird feeders, many of the sickened individuals had no explanation for their exposure. (RELATED: Authorities Issue National Alert After People Die From Virus Outbreak In India)
WHO called the situation “unusual and unexpected” and are conducting additional investigations into whether the increase is “true,” or whether it is due to increased surveillance. Bird-related illnesses have skyrocketed in recent years globally, including a mass outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HAPI), which is said to be rapidly evolving but poses a low threat to humans.