What can you get infected with from birds?

Today, agriculture, food industry, entertainment and services are quite widely developed. We have the opportunity to contact with various animals and food products. In zoos, at exhibitions, in pet stores you can find a large number of both domestic and exotic animals, birds. Agriculture, the agro-industrial complex is diligently engaged in poultry breeding. Many people keep poultry in their gardens, houses and apartments. Birds have become not only an object of the food industry, but also a faithful friend and life partner, with whom we come into contact in city parks, zoos, at home. Interest in poultry does not decrease. But at the same time, anxiety increases. A natural question arises: what can you get infected from poultry? In fact, the question is twofold and contains two subtexts: what can you get infected by contacting domestic and farm poultry, and what can you get infected by eating poultry meat.

What diseases can you catch from birds?

Birds are often carriers of diseases such as salmonellosis, pseudo tuberculosis, campylobacteriosis, colibacillosis, listeriosis, pasteurellosis. In addition, birds can provoke allergies.

According to veterinarians, urban, domestic and farm birds most often suffer from trichomoniasis and ornithosis. They also pose a risk to humans. Most people believe that farm and wild birds pose the greatest danger, but this is not true. The greatest risk of infection is from domestic, decorative birds, especially parrots.

Trichomoniasis is an infectious disease that causes inflammation of the urogenital tract in humans and animals. The cause is the microorganism trichomonas. Even if the bird is not sick, it can be a carrier of this infection. Pathogens can remain in the environment for up to 2 hours. Therefore, if you do not wash your hands after contact with a bird. You can get this disease. Its danger is that the disease develops asymptomatically in the early stages, but can ultimately lead to infertility, inflammatory processes of the urogenital system. Often these infections provoke the development of cancerous tumors.

It is an acute infectious disease affecting both domestic and wild birds. It is observed in winter. The main route of transmission is through the respiratory tract. The causative agent is chlamydia, which can cause numerous pathologies in the human body. The danger of this disease is that it is difficult to treat, since the causative agent is an intracellular parasite. Not every drug can penetrate the cell. Microorganisms produce a toxin, which can result in severe intoxication. Without treatment, it can result in damage to the liver, kidneys, brain, and heart.

According to WHO, approximately 10% of all cases of acute pneumonia are caused by chlamydia, which is carried by birds. This is the so-called ornithosis pneumonia.

Whirligig is a disease that mainly affects pigeons. The pathogenesis is based on damage to the central nervous system. Pigeons begin to make uncontrolled head turns. They often die from a dislocated neck or from exhaustion, convulsions. In humans, it can manifest itself after contact with a bird in the form of conjunctivitis, swelling of the lymph nodes.

Children who are in constant contact with poultry and agricultural workers are especially often affected. When infected with ornithosis, the first signs are similar to a cold. Chills and tremors appear in the body. The temperature may rise. Gradually, a sore throat, runny nose, and irritation appear. It becomes painful to swallow, and there is a stinging sensation in the eyes.

Prevention of ornithosis is quite simple and comes down to the need to maintain personal hygiene, rules of contact with birds. So, hands should be washed thoroughly after each contact. Most of the infection is transmitted through hands. It is necessary to monitor your immunity, since people with reduced immunity are most at risk of getting sick. For this, proper nutrition is necessary, timely provision of the body with all the necessary nutrients, vitamins.

Timely diagnosis of infection is important. For this, it is necessary to undergo regular preventive examinations, take tests for infections, including latent ones. The main danger of ornithosis and other diseases transmitted by birds is that they are asymptomatic. At the same time, serious disorders occur in the body, immunity decreases. After several months, and sometimes after years, the disease manifests itself in the form of severe metabolic disorders, chronic inflammatory diseases.

If the disease is detected at an early stage, the necessary measures can be taken to treat it. Methods of early diagnostics include various bacteriological and immunological methods. The most accurate method is molecular genetic, such as PCR. With the help of these methods, infection can be detected in a timely manner.