a disease of parrots, caused by the obligate intracellular parasite Chlamydia psittaci, that can be transmitted to humans, in whom it produces inflammation of the lungs and pneumonia
Also called: parrot fever, ornithosis
Word origin
C19: from New Latin, from Latin psittacus a parrot, from Greek psittakos; see -osis
psittacosis in American English
(ˌsɪtəˈkoʊsɪs)
noun
an acute or chronic disease of birds, esp. birds of the parrot order, caused by a bacterium (Chlamydia psittaci): often transmitted to humans, in whom it is characterized by fever and pneumonia
Word origin
ModL < L psittacus < Gr psittakos, parrot + -osis
Examples of 'psittacosis' in a sentence
psittacosis
He was fortunate in that she saw birds only as carriers of lice, psittacosis and other diseases and left him to go hunting them on his own.