A Case of Cerebellar Abscess.

~~CONCLUTSIONS . Certain points arise out of the consideration of these cases. First, psittacosis is still liable to occur in this country, and should be borne in mind when one or more patients in a household are found to be suffering from an influenzal type of illness, with early signs in the lungs and perhaps some typhoid-like symptoms, such as epistaxis, abdominal distension, vomiting, constipation, or diarrhoea. Especially should such a diagnosis suggest itself if influenza is not prevalent in the surrounding neighbourhood at the time. Secondly, parrots are not the only birds which cause psittacosis in man. In the report of the Ministry of HIealth,2 lovebirds, thrushes, and canaries, among other birds, are stated to have been the cause of human illness. It is apparently not certain how many types of birds suffer from diseases communicable to man, so the fact that a patient keeps birds should probably always arouse suspicion in doubtful caes' of human illness. Certainly all bird keepers should take care always to wash their hands after attending to the birds, and especially before taking food. Thirdly, an unusual factor in the cases described in this article is that three generations of human psittacosis followed from the original sick budgerigar. Cosman, quoted in the Ministry's report, mentions a woman who caught psittacosis from 'a patient she nursed and afterwards infected her own child, but such a sequence is sufficiently unusual to 'be' worth noting. Fourthly, the infection of a trained nurse in the course of her ordinary duties shows the care required in dealing with psittacosis, and incidentally, therefore, the necessity of early diagnosis of the disease. The nurses attending on these patients .were warned to treat them like cases of typhoid, and this is probably all that can be done. So far as is known, this is the first instance in this country of the infection of a hospital nurse with psittacosis by her patient, and, even so, two out of the three nurses in attendance escaped the disease.