The Liberace Room Summary and Analysis

School children in Mountain Home, Arkansas were ill, suffering from "high fever, headache, cough and prostration." A group from the U.S. Public Health Service arrived to investigate. There were numerous possibilities, both bacterial and viral. One option was psittacosis, a disease passed by birds, as several classrooms in the school had parakeets. By the time the team arrived, there were thirty-six cases, and the local public health official, Dr. Saltzman, had determined nothing other than some cloudiness in the lungs of each victim. A veterinarian team member examined the parakeets at the school and found that one, named Liberace, was sick. Other team members visited all afflicted children, testing for several diseases by subcutaneous injection and sending blood off for testing as well.

Several classrooms had parakeets, but testing proved that the one ill bird carried...