When I was a kid, I had a friend whose parents owned a parrot. It was this really beautiful African Grey that they ended up having until a couple of years ago actually.
Believe it or not, with the proper care parrots can end up living a really long time. I asked my mom once if we could get a parrot and she flat out told me no; that it would be far too much work to take care of an animal like that.
Added to that, every time I came back from hanging out with that friend she insisted that I take a shower. Even if I had taken a shower right before I went over to that friend’s house I had to take another one.
Her eventual reasoning was that most birds carried an excess amount of disease. As it turns out she was more right than I could have ever imagined.
Just look at the litany of diseases that have been spread by birds over history. I mean hell, it’s almost as if the diseases themselves know what a great delivery system that they have.
I mean you can shut down an airport, but you can’t exactly keep a bird from flying over the border.
Across Europe recently, there has been a spike in something that is being referred to as parrot fever. You might be thinking that this is someone with a sick sense of humor who happens to also be a Jimmy Buffett fan, but sadly this is not the case.
According to a recent report, a sharp uptick in parrot fever has caused several people to die and dozens more have become seriously ill.
The bacterial illness that’s more scientifically known as psittacosis is spread through pet birds as well as wild ones.
The symptoms are absolutely horrible to even think about. People stricken with this bird-borne illness come down with cases of severe meningitis and pneumonia.
Think about how horrible a way to go that must be. Unable to breathe and your brain swells up like a balloon.
I don’t care who you are, that must be an absolutely horrendous way to go.
That being said people, be sure to exercise great care when it comes to handling any and all birds, especially ones of which you don’t know the origin.
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Author: Fred Williams
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