Bird Chlamydia

So last week our really really gay microbiology professor ("sssssspeciessssss" and "sssstrainsssss") gave a lecture on chlamydia. it featured the obvious stuff, and a few rarer sssspeciessss of chlamydia including C. psittaci which he said "all you need to know for the exam is it is associated with birds and causes a pneumonia."

Today we learned differential diagnosis. Listing all of the problems for a patient and coming up with possible causes. Well this one patient had cold & chest problems - cough with brown sputum and chest discomfort. A few other symptoms too. In the history, he had a pet tarantula and parakeet. So I shouted "bird chlamydia!" We laughed, then checked our notes on the bacteria, and a few of the symptoms fit. But the instructor didn't have the actual diagnosis written down.

In path, we learned about more bacteria and fungi. At the end of the lecture, the woman tells us a story of some old lady who went to the hospital for pneumonia, and in 2 days got really sick. The infectious disease consult guy asked her if she had any pets, and she said a new pet bird from her kids. Her kids bought it on the black market so it never got its shots (or whatever the hell birds get). They gave her treatment for C. psittaci and she was 100% better in 3 days.

Then on House tonight, this asthmatic hispanic guy falls off the roof and has pneumonia. Then his hand turns gangrenous. After testing for fungi and bacteria, they can't find anything. Well it turns out he had been going to illegal cockfighting (roosters)! Because he was asthmatic, he inhaled some of the C. psittaci and he had bird chlamydia!

This freakin' rare disease has been following me all day!