Psittacosis: Rickettsia-like Inclusions in Man and in Experimental Animals.

In the course of the experimental work on psittacosis by Armstrong and McCoy initiated at the Hygienic Laboratory early in the recent outbreak of that disease, tissues from 14 parrots and parrakeets used in that work were submitted to the writer for examination. The experimental work resulted in a laboratory outbreak of the disease. Tbis, in itself, is important evidence that the virus (sensu lkto) of psittacosis was being worked with. In three parrots of this group there were encountered focal lesions and minute intracellular coccoid and bacilliform inclusions. The lesions were paralleled by some of those seen in material from the first human case of our laboratory outbreak, and precisely similar inclusions were seen in the lungs of that case. This autopsy is being reported elsewhere by Lieutenant Commander Wildman, Medical Corps, United States Navy, to whom the writer is indebted for the material referred to.