mike@uhunix1.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Mike W. Burger) (09/14/90)
At the University of Oklahoma Medical School I worked as a technician on a project involving a disease carried by pigeons and other birds. It is a terminal disease of man caused by a pathogenic yeast infection of the spinal fluid. It is a terrible disease that has early symptoms similar to insanity. It is very hard to diagnose and when it occurs it is usually identified as some other problem. We worked on two things, how wide spread the disease was and on a test for it. We collected pigeon droppings from all over the United States and the rest of the world. We found the yeast in virtually every pigeon dropping examined (over 12,000) at the time I was there. Fortunately it is a difficult disease to catch. It is spread only by inhaling the dried and powdered droppings. Of the few confirmed cases we had to study, one was a pigeon keeper, one worked in a hay loft often that was heavily infested with pigeons, two worked in an old cotton gin that was infested with pigeons and at least one picked up the disease from dust from a very heavy perching area that was also the second floor window ledge of the un-aircontioned office building where she worked. Anytime pigeons collect near people and produce large qualtities of droppings that dry and turn to powder that people can inhale for a period of time, this disease is possible. It can take up to seven years for symptoms to appear. As I said, it is very fortunate that it requires just the right conditions to produce the powdered and infectious droppings and a long term exposure to the powdered droppings by inhalation to be at risk for the disease. Fresh droppings appear to pose no hazard and other modes of entry into the human body do not seem to be a danger. Still, it is not fair to say that pigeons pose no threat to man. Other birds carry the yeast, but seldom live in large numbers near enough to man to create the conditions needed for transmission to humans. mike@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu
q1ygq@turing.newcastle.ac.uk (J.M. Spencer) (09/17/90)
In article <9349@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu> mike@uhunix1.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Mike W. Burger) writes: > > At the University of Oklahoma Medical School I worked as a >technician on a project involving a disease carried by pigeons and >other birds. It is a terminal disease of man caused by a pathogenic >yeast infection of the spinal fluid. It is a terrible disease that >has early symptoms similar to insanity. It is very hard to diagnose >and when it occurs it is usually identified as some other problem. It must be hard to identify .... it appears to have no name! :o)