bought a bird from petsmart

Question
Hi Carol,
I purchased a black headed caique from pet smart two months ago and now there is news on tv about pet smart birds being exposed to psittacosis. My question is- how long does it take for signs of this disease to show up? Like I said, I have had "Leroy" for two months and he has no signs of the disease. I am having him tested on wednesday at our vets, at pet smarts expense. I was hoping to get some information from you on the disease so that maybe I could ease my brother-in-laws mind. He has been over to play with Leroy and if leroy has the disease then it is possible that my brother in law may have carried the disease home to his pet birds and breeder birds. I'm trying not to put the cart before the horse here, any information would help greatly.  Heads up to anyone reading this-I AM DONE WITH PETSMART. They have lied about how they are handling the situation at the store and they tried to give me the run around until I got VERY firm with them.  Be careful where you shop folks.  Thanks so much for listening.  Can't wait to hear back from you.

Answer
The bird can have psittacosis for quite a long time before showing symptoms, so I would get him checked out ASAP and as far as I know, petsmart is footing the bills so make sure your vet knows who to bill.
Psittacosis is very contagious (even to humans) but as long as he had washed his hands after touching Leroy and before touching his birds, there should be no problem. I actually have a bird with Psittacosis in my house right now. You will want to disinfect everything the bird has been near with bleach (your brother-in-law might want to do the same, just in case) and I recommend purchasing a true HEPA filter. Psittacosis is spread through inhaling dried feces in the air, and the HEPA filter will catch these infected particles so you will not have to worry. Even if the test for Psittacosis turns up negative, it is never a bad idea to put Leroy on special medicated food to treat the disease. If your brother-in-law is still worried, I'm sure his vet would be happy to prescribe some of the food for his birds, too.

Pet stores in general just make me cringe because of the way they handle medical/sanitation issues (no, I'm not a crazy person wanting to shut down pet stores because I am part of PETA. I worked in pet stores for MANY years and witnessed HORRIFIC things). Remember that even the toys in the store can be infected with disease, so bleach all toys before letting your bird near them!