A report on the incidence of avian chlamydiosis in wild parrots in the Pantanal has been published in Veterinary Microbiology

A report on the incidence of avian chlamydiosis in wild parrots in the Pantanal has recently been published in Veterinary Microbiology. A team of Brazilian scientists, which included Neiva Guedes, Director of the Projeto Arara Azul, took throat and cloacal swabs from 32 nestlings of the Blue-fronted Amazon (Amazona aestiva) as well as 45 nestlings of the Hyacinthine macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) and tested them for the presence of the bacteria Chlamydophila psittaci, which causes avian chlamydiosis in birds and when transmitted to humans psittacosis. The cloacal samples from two of the Amazons aged between 32 and 45 days were found to be positive. With four  macaw nestlings throat swabs proved to be  positive and cloacal swabs in as many as 12 macaw nestlings. The age of the infected macaws ranged from 33 to 88 days. The results seem to indicate that the bacteria C. psittaci is wide-spread in the Pantanal. However none of the nestlings infected manifested any symptoms of avian chlamydiosis.