World Conference on Magic Bullets
Celebrating Paul Ehrlich's 150th Birthday
Nürnberg,Germany, September 9-11, 2004
(1) International Veterinary Hospital, Ahmadi, Kuwait.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a mysterious human disease not widely known to affect animals. The aim of this case report is to describe clinical signs, microbiological findings, and the outcome of an arsenical-based therapy in psittacine birds diagnosed with CFS.
Three Blue-fronted Amazons (Amazona aestiva), belonging to a physician suffering from CFS, had a 4-month history of a CFS-like disease and had relapsed after extensive prior antibiotic and supportive therapy. Wright-stained blood smears were obtained from psittacines and from the owner. Blood samples from all birds were incubated for 3 days on Columbia plates in a CO2 enriched atmosphere. Diagnosis of CFS was done on the basis of clinical signs and atypical laboratory findings. Treatment with organic arsenical thiacetarsamide sodium at dosages of 0.1 ml/kg/day was then intravenously performed for 3 consecutive days.
Micrococci-like organisms were seen in circulating red blood cells at light microscopy in all three parrots and the owner. Blood cultures proved negative in Bird 1; positive for Staphylococcus auricularis in Bird 2; and positive for Staphylococcus cohnii in Bird 3. Within 3 days of therapy, clinical signs such as lethargy, fever, poor appetite and sore throat had disappeared. A check carried out one month later showed a complete and lasting remission that is evident in all three birds. Micrococci in the blood had disappeared and control blood cultures proved negative.
1) Bacteraemia due to coagulase-negative Staphylococcus spp. can be associated with a CFS-like disease in psittacine birds.
2) The organic arsenical thiacetarsamide sodium is highly effective in eliminating coagulase-negative Staphylococcus spp. bacteraemia and clinical signs of CFS.
3) The recovery of S. auricularis in Bird 2 suggests zoonotic implications since this bacterium is typically human.
Additionally, S. cohnii has been recovered in both Australian CFS patients and in CFS diagnosed dogs in Italy. Finally, these facts and the presence in the owner's blood of micrococcal forms indistinguishable from those seen in the three parrots strongly support a CFS human-animal interaction.
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Reprinted with Permission of Walter Tarello
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