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Clinics in Chest Medicine Dec 2020Occupational respiratory infections can be caused by bacterial, viral, and fungal pathogens. Transmission in occupational settings can occur from other humans, animals,... (Review)
Review
Occupational respiratory infections can be caused by bacterial, viral, and fungal pathogens. Transmission in occupational settings can occur from other humans, animals, or the environment, and occur in various occupations and industries. In this article, we describe 4 occupationally acquired respiratory infections at the focus of NIOSH investigations over the last decade: tuberculosis (TB), influenza, psittacosis, and coccidioidomycosis. We highlight the epidemiology, clinical manifestations, occupational risk factors, and prevention measures.
Topics: Humans; Occupational Diseases; Occupational Exposure; Respiratory Tract Infections
PubMed: 33153691
DOI: 10.1016/j.ccm.2020.08.003 -
Chinese Medical Journal Jan 2021
Topics: Chlamydophila psittaci; Humans; Pneumonia; Psittacosis
PubMed: 33410632
DOI: 10.1097/CM9.0000000000001313 -
Emerging Microbes & Infections Dec 2022Severe Community Acquired Pneumonia (SCAP) challenges public health globally. Considerable improvements in molecular pathogen testing emerged in the last few years. Our...
Severe Community Acquired Pneumonia (SCAP) challenges public health globally. Considerable improvements in molecular pathogen testing emerged in the last few years. Our prospective study combinedly used traditional culture, antigen tests, PCR and mNGS in SCAP pathogen identification with clinical outcomes. From June 2018 to December 2019, we conducted a multi-centre prospective study in 17 hospitals of SCAP patients within 48 hours of emergency room stay or hospitalization in China. All clinical data were uploaded into an online database. Blood, urine and respiratory specimens were collected for routine culture, antigen detection, PCR and mNGS as designed appropriately. Aetiology confirmation was made by the local attending physician group and scientific committee according to microbiological results, clinical features, and response to the treatment. Two hundred seventy-five patients were included for final analysis. Combined detection methods made identification rate up to 74.2% (222/299), while 14.4% (43/299) when only using routine cultures and 40.8% (122/299) when not using mNGS. Influenza virus (23.2%, 46/198), (19.6%, 39/198), (14.6%, 29/198), (12.6%, 25/198), (11.1%, 22/198) were the top five common pathogens. The in-hospital mortality of patients with pathogen identified and unidentified was 21.7% (43/198) and 25.9% (20/77), respectively. In conclusion, early combined detection increased the pathogen identification rate and possibly benefitted survival. Influenza virus, , was the leading cause of SCAP in China, and there was a clear seasonal distribution pattern of influenza viruses. Physicians should be aware of the emergence of uncommon pathogens, including and .
Topics: Adult; Chlamydophila psittaci; Community-Acquired Infections; Humans; Pneumonia, Bacterial; Prospective Studies; Psittacosis
PubMed: 35081880
DOI: 10.1080/22221751.2022.2035194 -
BMC Infectious Diseases Jun 2021Psittacosis, which is also known as parrot fever, is Chlamydia psittaci (C. psittaci) caused infectious disease. The clinical manifestations vary from asymptomatic... (Review)
Review
A case of chlamydia psittaci caused severe pneumonia and meningitis diagnosed by metagenome next-generation sequencing and clinical analysis: a case report and literature review.
BACKGROUND
Psittacosis, which is also known as parrot fever, is Chlamydia psittaci (C. psittaci) caused infectious disease. The clinical manifestations vary from asymptomatic infection to severe atypical pneumonia or even fatal meningitis. Early recognition of psittacosis is difficult because of its nonspecific clinical manifestations. Culture and gene probe techniques for C. psittaci are not available for routine clinical use, which makes the diagnosis difficult too. Although psittacosis has increasingly been recognized and reported in recent years, cure of severe pneumonia complicated with meningitis, with etiologic diagnosis aided by the use of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS), is still uncommon. So, it is necessary to report and review such potentially fatal case.
CASE PRESENTATION
This report describes a 54-year-old woman with C. psittaci caused severe atypical pneumonia and meningitis. She presented with symptoms of fever, dry cough and dyspnea, accompanied by prominent headache. Her condition deteriorated rapidly to respiratory failure and lethargy under the treatment of empirical antibacterial agents, and was treated with invasive mechanical ventilation soon. She denied contact with birds, poultry or horses, but unbiased mNGS of both the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) identified sequence reads corresponding to C. psittaci infection, and there was no sequence read corresponding to other probable pathogens. Combined use of targeted antimicrobial agents of tetracyclines, macrolides and fluoroquinolones was carried out, and the patient's condition improved and she was discharged home 28 days later. Her status returned close to premorbid condition on day 60 of follow-up.
CONCLUSIONS
When clinicians come across a patient with atypical pneumonia accompanied by symptoms of meningitis, psittacosis should be taken into consideration. mNGS is a promising detection method in such condition and is recommended.
Topics: Animals; Anti-Infective Agents; Chlamydial Pneumonia; Chlamydophila psittaci; Female; Fluoroquinolones; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; Humans; Macrolides; Meningitis; Metagenome; Middle Aged; Psittacosis; Tetracyclines; Treatment Outcome
PubMed: 34193063
DOI: 10.1186/s12879-021-06205-5 -
The Lancet. Microbe Jul 2022Chlamydia psittaci can infect a wide range of avian species, occasionally causing psittacosis (also known as parrot fever) in humans. Most human psittacosis cases are...
BACKGROUND
Chlamydia psittaci can infect a wide range of avian species, occasionally causing psittacosis (also known as parrot fever) in humans. Most human psittacosis cases are associated with close contact with pet birds or poultry. In December, 2020, an outbreak of severe community-acquired pneumonia of unknown aetiology was reported in a hospital in Shandong province, China, and some of the patients' close contacts had respiratory symptoms. Our aims were to determine the causative agent of this epidemic and whether there had been human-to-human transmission.
METHODS
For this epidemiological and aetiological investigation study, we enrolled patients who had community-acquired pneumonia confirmed by chest CT at two local hospitals in Shandong Province in China. We collected sputum, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, and nasopharyngeal swab samples from participants and detected pathogens by surveying for 22 target respiratory microbes using a commercial assay, followed by metagenomic next-generation sequencing, specific nested PCR, and qPCR tests. We excluded individuals who were C psittaci-negative on both tests. We recruited close contacts of the C psittaci-positive patients, and tested nasopharyngeal swabs from the close contacts and samples from ducks from the processing plant where these patients worked. We then integrated the epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory data to reveal the potential chain of transmission of C psittaci that characterised this outbreak.
FINDINGS
Between Dec 4 and 29, 2020, we used metagenomic next-generation sequencing and different PCR-based approaches to test 12 inpatients with community-acquired pneumonia, of whom six (50%) were workers at a duck-meat processing plant and two (17%) were unemployed people, who were positive for C psittaci and enrolled in this study. We contacted 61 close contacts of the six patients who worked at the duck-meat processing plant, of whom 61 (100%) were enrolled and tested, and we determined that the community-acquired pneumonia outbreak was caused by C psittaci. Within the outbreak cluster, 17 (77%) of 22 participants had confirmed C psittaci infections and five (23%) of 22 participants were asymptomatic C psittaci carriers. The outbreak had begun with avian-to-human transmission, and was followed by secondary and tertiary human-to-human transmission, which included transmission by several asymptomatic carriers and by health-care workers. In addition, some of the participants with confirmed C psittaci infection had no identified source of infection, which suggested cryptic bacterial transmission.
INTERPRETATION
Our study data might represent the first documented report of human-to-human transmission of C psittaci in China. Therefore, C psittaci has the potential to evolve human-to-human transmission via various routes, should be considered an elevated biosecurity and emergent risk, and be included as part of the routine diagnosis globally, especially for high-risk populations.
FUNDING
Academic Promotion Programme of Shandong First Medical University, National Science and Technology Major Project, ARC Australian Laureate Fellowship.
Topics: Animals; Australia; Birds; China; Chlamydophila psittaci; Community-Acquired Infections; Humans; Pneumonia; Psittacosis
PubMed: 35617977
DOI: 10.1016/S2666-5247(22)00064-7 -
Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) Sep 2023The bacterial agent , and the resulting disease of psittacosis, is a little-known and underappreciated infectious disease by healthcare practitioners and in public... (Review)
Review
The bacterial agent , and the resulting disease of psittacosis, is a little-known and underappreciated infectious disease by healthcare practitioners and in public health in general. infections can cause significant psittacosis outbreaks, with person-to-person transmission documented in the last decade. In this publication, we review the pathogen and its disease, as well as examine the potential for genetic manipulation in this organism to create a more deadly pathogen. Recent disease surveys indicate that currently, the highest incidences of human disease exist in Australia, Germany and the UK. We recommend the universal public health reporting of and psittacosis disease and increasing the promotion of public health awareness.
PubMed: 37764973
DOI: 10.3390/pathogens12091165