This may be of interest to some (even if only to underline media emphasis on
quirky/bizarre phenomena).
Robin Hide
Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2010 09:02:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: ProMED-mail <>
UNDIAGNOSED ILLNESS, AVIAN - AUSTRALIA: (NORTHERN TERRITORY) TOXIC
EXPOSURE SUSPECTED
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A ProMED-mail post <http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>
Date: Wed 2 Jun 2010
Source: Times Online [edited]
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article7142337.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797093>
It is usually the locals who go 'troppo' during the tropical wet
season in Australia's Northern Territory, however this year [2010] it
is the native parrots.
'Drunk' red-collared lorikeets [_Trichoglossus haematodus
rubritorquis_ or sometimes classified as a separate species
_Trichoglossus rubritorquis_ - Mod.TG] have been found stumbling
around, falling out of trees, or simply passed out around Darwin
after being struck down by a mystery illness which causes them to
display classic signs of human drunkenness.
Concerned locals have discovered the 'pickled parrots' all over
Darwin's roads, yards, and parklands and taken them to The Ark Animal
Hospital in Palmerston, where veterinarians have been treating up to
8 birds a day for the past few months.
"They act quite like a drunken person would," Lisa Hansen, a
veterinary surgeon at the Ark Animal Hospital told The Times. "They
stumble around and are very uncoordinated. Some have even fallen off
their perches in the aviary."
Earlier today [2 Jun 2010] one of the lorikeets was found in the
bottom of an aviary at the clinic leaning up against the mesh. "He
looked just like a drunken person leaning against a wall to keep
himself upright," Ms Hansen said. Another glassy-eyed bird was lying
on the floor of a cage, looking like he had just had a big night out.
Others have been found with their heads under paper seemingly trying
to block the world out, or wandering aimlessly around in an
apparently intoxicated state.
Ms Hansen said another clinical sign of the bizarre illness which is
similar to human drunkenness was the change in attitude of the
usually "obnoxious" birds, which suddenly become "really friendly and
jovial". They also appear to suffer hangovers -- including headaches,
disorientation, lethargy, and feeling generally unhappy -- for a few
weeks after they are sick, and some take months to recover. Others
have died from the illness.
Ms Hansen said there are many theories about the cause of the mystery
illness -- which Darwin vets have dubbed the 'drop lorry' or 'drunken
lorikeet' disease -- including fermented nectar from a plant they are
eating, or an outbreak of a mystery virus.
Veterinarians at the Ark Animal Hospital, a community clinic which is
seeking donations, feed the lorikeets the equivalent of avian
hangover food: sweetened porridge and fresh fruit. They then care for
the birds until they are ready to be let back into the wild.
According to Ms Hansen, the drunken lorikeet phenomenon regularly
occurs at the end Darwin's wet season, which typically lasts between
November and May each year, however this year [2010] there has been
an increase in the number of birds that have appeared sick, with over
200 treated so far.
Red-collared lorikeets are a native bird of northern Australia and
are a sub-species of the better known rainbow lorikeet. The
red-collared bird, which is distinctive for an orange stripe over the
nape of its neck, is found in the Northern Territory, the north of
Western Australia, and far north-eastern Queensland.
[Byline: Sophie Tedmanson]
- --
Communicated by: HealthMap Alerts via ProMED-mail
<>
[Some plants produce berries that as the berries become ripe or even
over ripe, produce ethanol. As the birds consume these attractive
berries, they become intoxicated with the ethanol. They have fallen
out of the bushes and been observed staggering around. Most of these
birds recover fairly quickly. However, the species in Australia may
not metabolize the alcoholic type of product (if that is indeed the
problem) as quickly, may be more sensitive to it, or perhaps are just
capable of consuming more, and metabolizing less of the product.
A plant with such fruit would seem likely since the article says it
has occurred in previous years, during approximately the same time
frame.
A picture of a lorikeet may be found at
<http://www.avianweb.com/redcollaredlorikeets.html> - Mod.TG]
[Darwin can be located on the HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map
of Australia at
<http://healthmap.org/r/007y>. - Sr.Tech.Ed.MJ]
...................................tg/mj/lm
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