Fungal Meningitis from bird droppings

[grammaC]

With the news this week about a steroid being contaminated with a fungus, I went out to the CDC website and did some reading.
I was surprised to see the things a person can get from bird droppings.
I clean my coop every week and it gets pretty dusty when I sift the droppings from the sand under the roost.
Has anyone heard of chicken-keepers getting sick from any of these? Do I need to start wearing a mask (I'd rather not)?

And yes, I do live in the Midwest where, it seems, these things are more common...

http://www.cdc.gov/meningitis/fungal.html

 

[hallerlake]

With the news this week about a steroid being contaminated with a fungus, I went out to the CDC website and did some reading.
I was surprised to see the things a person can get from bird droppings.
I clean my coop every week and it gets pretty dusty when I sift the droppings from the sand under the roost.
Has anyone heard of chicken-keepers getting sick from any of these? Do I need to start wearing a mask (I'd rather not)?

And yes, I do live in the Midwest where, it seems, these things are more common...

http://www.cdc.gov/meningitis/fungal.html

There is more than one lung disease a person can get from bird droppings. I developed hypersensitivity pneumonitis. There is no cure. Histioplasmosis is another. Wear a respirator when cleaning your coops or you may have to give up birds entirely.

 

[ivan3]

If one's immune system is already compromised, zoonoses are the least of one's problems. However, anyone who is doing a massive Spring/Fall clean-out of coops should wear a N-95 rated mask (available in most big box home improvement stores - pretty cheap for 3M product), no good reason to perform a `particulate' challenge of one's `defenses' without cause.

Still feel safer cleaning coops than walking into Wally World on the weekend (heavy concentration of same species disease vectors).

 

[hallerlake]

If one's immune system is already compromised, zoonoses are the least of one's problems. However, anyone who is doing a massive Spring/Fall clean-out of coops should wear a N-95 rated mask (available in most big box home improvement stores - pretty cheap for 3M product), no good reason to perform a `particulate' challenge of one's `defenses' without cause.

Still feel safer cleaning coops than walking into Wally World on the weekend (heavy concentration of same species disease vectors)

I'm not aware of having a compromised immune system. My mother had autoimmune conditions, but the bird dung lung, as my sister calls it, is my first. Other people may be unaware of their susceptibility, too. Better they should be safe than sorry.