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Glite Dictionary
psittacosis

psittacosis

1 9.9
A disease you can get from birds that causes flu-like symptoms
  • noun
  • /ˌsɪtəˈkoʊsɪs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : psitacosis
  • After being diagnosed with psittacosis, she was treated for respiratory complications.

Examples

  • Veterinarians warn that handling birds may increase the risk of psittacosis infection.

  • One species, C. psittaci, causes psittacosis (so-called parrot fever), a respiratory infection transmitted from birds to people.

    Academic text (2004)

  • Daszak explains that in the United States, there is no legislative mandate to inspect any incoming wildlife for unknown pathogens or to test domestic birds for anything other than psittacosis, Newcastle's disease, and avian influenza.

    Academic text (2008)

  • Exposure to infected birds can lead to psittacosis, which often causes flu-like symptoms.

Synonyms

parrot fever
vspsittacosis
  • Specialized
7.2

An infection people get from sick birds, often parrots, that causes lung illness

is more about flu-like symptoms rather than clear pneumonia
ornithosis
vspsittacosis
  • Specialized
9.9

An illness people catch from sick birds that harms the lungs

is specific to one bacterium and often shows flu-like symptoms
parrot disease
vspsittacosis
  • Specialized
6.1

An illness in parrots caused by bacteria that can pass to people

is the human illness transmitted from those birds causing flu-like symptoms

Surface Forms

psittacosis singular
psittacoses plural

Morphology

psittacosis = psittac + osis

Although the medical suffix '-osis' is segmentable, the bound root 'psittac-' is not recognizable to most learners, so the meaning cannot be inferred from ordinary English vocabulary knowledge.

Etymology

Psittacosis comes from the Greek root psittakos meaning 'parrot' and the medical ending -osis meaning 'disease'. So psittacosis literally means 'parrot disease', which explains why it is an illness people can catch from birds.