Respiratory tract allergy to household pet birds.

Pet birds may be as great an allergenic problem as cats and dogs. Some of the estimated 25 to 30 million pet birds in the United States may cause such allergic symptoms as nocturnal wheezy cough, asthma, rhinitis, conjunctivitis or other manifestations during a short or long period of induction. Most of the 62,000 exotic birds imported each month are members of the psittacine or parrot family. Such birds may be particularly troublesome in that they pollute the home environment by antigenic discharges from their integument.