Wild-pigeon-related psittacosis in a family.

Three members of a family acquired psittacosis after exposure to a wild pigeon. Each of the patients had pulmonary infiltrates, prominent headache, abdominal complaints, and serologic evidence for infection with Chlamydia psittaci. Of 759 cases of psittacosis reported to the Centers for Disease Control for the period of 1974 to 1981, some 75 (10 percent) were associated with pigeons. Fifty-two of the cases were associated with domestic pigeons and 23 with wild pigeons. Pigeons represent a largely unrecognized reservoir of psittacosis in the United States.