Chicken disease that can cause blindness in humans????

[202roosterlane]

Long story short, my neighbor, the Lonoke Eye doctor complained about my chickens and said they can spread a disease that causes people to go blind. And that he currently knows of five people going blind because of it. Can't find anything on the Internet about this.

He said the name but of course it was some long crazy drawn out term. Something, yadda, yadda "osis".

Considering he lives 2 acres from me I don't think my burning used poop chips are going to fly to his yard and cause him to go blind.

Am I wrong? Is there something to worry about. I am crazy about poultry Bio-security as seen in my thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-worry-too-much-or-should-we-all-do-more/0_40

I can't imagine having to do more to insure the safety of my family as well as my poultry. Thanks for your help.

 

[FeatherPainter]

I'll be very surprised if this is true, maybe he just likes pulling your leg. Hopefully someone who knows for sure will answer.

 

[jeepguy982001]

i think this was what he was talking about I found it on google. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...5dnTBw&usg=AFQjCNGNHtofcp7JQGJbOA7Izd8Uconq-Q

 

[CrystalJ]

I'm sure he's referring to toxoplasmosis . It's also present in cat feces.

 

[202roosterlane]

Well that was some interesting reading. Thank you very much. That lead me to this site as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histoplasmosis and for blindness: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presumed_ocular_histoplasmosis_syndrome

 

[jeepguy982001]

it was interesting to read. Guess i'll have to add it to the list of things that might kill me one day. lol

 

[GardenLily]

I'm pretty sure your neighbor was pulling your leg, as none of the diseases mentioned on the zoonotic diseases list or the avian disease list I read mentioned anything a chicken can spread that might cause blindness: http://www.nt.gov.au/d/Content/File/p/Anim_Dis/668.pdf http://www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/ehs/zoonotics/diseases.aspx

 

[EweSheep]

Five people? What the heck were they doing????????

 

[jeepguy982001]

Maybe a meaner variation of "being in the dog house"

 

[dawg53]

There are a few people here in BYC that suffer from histoplasmosis. Always wear a mask when cleaning the coop, common sense.
One could always mist inside their coop with oxine a few times a week, that will kill the fungus/spores that cause histoplasmosis and any other bacterial/viral pathogens.