Parrot fever has killed 5 people in Europe. Should Canadians be worried?

Parrot fever is an infectious disease that is most often transmitted to humans through exposure to infected birds, especially parrots, cockatiels, parakeets and similar pet birds.

A deadly outbreak of psittacosis, also known as parrot fever, is spreading across Europe, prompting a warning from the World Health Organization (WHO).

The WHO announced on Tuesday that parrot fever cases have been on the rise in several European countries since November 2023, resulting in five reported deaths to date.

In a disease outbreak notification, the global health agency highlighted recent cases in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands. In most cases, the infected people had been in contact with either a domestic or wild bird.

“This is one of those things where people who own pet birds should just be aware that this is a potential pathogen you can get from your pet bird,” infectious diseases specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch told Global News. “But for the general community at this point in time, there’s really nothing to be concerned about.”

He mentioned that while there have been cases of psittacosis in Canada, they are exceedingly rare. And, if someone does contract it, the likelihood of death from the illness is also low.

“It’s something that’s being monitored and this was picked up because there are more robust surveillance systems in many parts of the world,” he said.

Parrot fever is a respiratory infection caused by the bacteria Chlamydia psittaci, commonly found in birds, according to Health Canada.

“It’s a distant relative to the chlamydia, the sexually-transmitted infection, but this is not a sexually-transmitted infection,” Bogoch said. “But from a genetic relative standpoint, it’s a cousin.”