Birmingham Zoo bird aviary might have exposed visitors to bacterial disease

The Alabama Department of Public Health urged visitors like WIAT’s marketing director Andy Caliendo, who visited the aviary in the past 30 days, to take notice.

“We routinely conduct health exams on the zoo’s animals so that we can be as proactive as possible about detecting the presence of disease among the zoo’s animals”.

Health officials say several of the birds in the Lorikeet Aviary have tested positive for a bacterial disease known as psittacosis.

But it’s most likely to happen with direct contact with infected birds.

Experts say the symptoms usually appear three to 14 days after the initial exposure.

The disease is most often transmitted when the bacterium is aerosolized from the bird’s feces – and then inhaled by an unsuspecting person. Zoo officials could not be immediately reached Wednesday evening.

Persons who are experiencing any of the listed symptoms since visiting the zoo within the past 30 days should seek medical attention and should inform their medical provider of potential exposure. In people, psittacosis presents flu-like symptoms.

The aviary at the zoo is now closed – and will remain closed until the sick birds are treated fully, they added.

“Realistically the transmission to people is low, there are less than 50 cases of this disease reported in U.S. every year”, McCain said.

The zoo said that so far, no bird keepers or other employees have presented any symptoms. “The veterinary staff is taking all measures to ensure the safety and health of the lorikeet collection and will continue to monitor any circumstances that may affect the Zoo’s animal collection or the guests”.