Bird Dust Diseasec????

[lovezebs]

Hello All.

Has anyone this side of the big pond, ever heared of 'Bird Dust Disease'?

The first time I ever came across it, was chatting on another Bird Forum, based out of Ireland.

Mentioning that I had never heared of it before, I was given a bit of a run down about the topic, and thought I would mention it here, and get some feed back.

Apparantly all birds, but primarily Hookbills and Pigeons/Doves, produce dust as they flutter their wings. This dust, if inhaled in great quantities over a period of many years, can cause lung disease and even kill you. One chap mentioned, that his Father or Grandfather (a life long bird man , actually ssuccumbed to this In his old age).This is why it's apparently strongly recommended to have very good ventilation in bird rooms.

After reading this, I started to pay attention, and sure enough, the space around my Budgie cage, is surrounded by a fine dust on a daily basis. I clean it, and the next day It's back . again. So I imagine, that if one has a really large flock of hookbills, there would be a great accumulation of this dust. Apparantly, all birds produce this, but in somewhat lesser quantities than Hookbills and Pigeons/Doves.

Has anyone come across this anywhere?

~Elana~

[debbie276]

Also called Bird Breeder's Lung, Bird fancier's lung and Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis...
Although not a problem for most bird owners, bird dust and feather particles can cause serious damage to lungs. The situation is more likely to occur when many birds are kept in a confined space and exposure is over a prolonged period of time.
http://www.multiscope.com/hotspot/bird_ ... s_lung.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_fancier's_lung
http://www.lung.org/lung-disease/hypers ... nding.html

[debbie276]

Our bodies are able to expel these things from our lungs- however birds have a harder time.

It is a human disease

[debbie276]

Oh sorry, sounded like you thought it wasn't a problem for people.

[Colt]

This right here is why I can't have any of the dusty hookbills in the house. As a child I had a parakeet in my bedroom and got so sick the bones in my sinuses even got infected. Rainbow moved to the living room and I got much better.

In most home environments cockatiels especially get me sick. But the majority of the African and Australian hookbills are really dusty and cause me problems. I never had issues with my Jenday conure (from South America) but IMO South American birds tend to bathe much more frequently.

[lovezebs]

debbie276

Thanks Debbie.

That is fascinating. I have never heared about this before, never even come across it any where, to trigger any interest that would make me look into it further. Thanks for the reading material on those sites.

So I guess one should invest in an air purifier, and wet wipe all dusty surfaces, so as not to stirr it up into the air.

Live and learn

~Elana~

[lovezebs]

fetching

Hi.

So your friend put in an air purifier, and it caused even more problems? That's not good.

So this affects birds as well? You would think that they would be immune to their own dust.

~Elana~

[lovezebs]

Colt

Wow! That sounds like quite a major infection that you got as a kid.

It's amazing that you can spend as much time as you do around birds, without too many issues.

As I mentioned to Debbie, ' live and learn'. I have never heared about this disease before.

~Elana~

[josh1810]

I actually am having to go to the Dr. Next week to have a pulmitolog test for my lungs. My Dr. Says it may because of my finches. Which in turn if it comes back finch related I will probably have to get out of the hobby....

Sad news but I'm hoping its something else... Just not cancer or disease...

[debbie276]

There have been several people that have given me birds over the years for this reason, especially when little kids are involved.

@josh1810
So sorry, hope things work out well at the doctors

[lovezebs]

josh1810

I'm so sorry to hear about this. What sent you to the doctor in the first place? I mean, what symptoms have you been experiencing, that made you suspect this particular problem?

~Elana~

[debbie276]

I barely had 20 in my solarium and when I moved them all outside it was AMAZING how much less dust and debris was in that room. For some it doesn't take much to give them trouble.

[josh1810]

My story was i went to a bird show on dec 7th 2014 and have coughed every since. They first thought i picked up a bug. After a month i was still coughing. I was thinking bronchitis... the Dr. Thinks different... i have asthma but not bad... i get short of breath easily, not weasing, just short... I'm only 28 ya'll.

She really just want to do this test to make sure i don't have anything FOR SURE wrong with me. But she is convinced that it could be bird related.

My bird room is a 9×11 ish i think.... i have around 60 in there... and no everybody they are not over crowded... i have maximized every inch of the tiny room....

Thank all of you for the concern i will keep you updated on what happens. I think i will go on Monday.
..

[Sheather]

For the person with bird allergies even one bird could cause severe issue. For the average person, though, provided you keep up maintenance, I don't think this is a disease you need to worry about too much. If your bird room visibly covered in a quarter inch thick layer of white sticky dust and piles of feathers float all around, you might have a problem on your hands - ANY type of dust in this amount can be dangerous long-term - but if you vacuum daily, keep papers clean, and provide a bird bath every day to your charges to wash their feathers clean, you pretty much remove all chance of the disease, as it's caused by the dust and irritation in the air. It's a much bigger concern for people keeping pigeons in crowded dirty lofts or neglectful 'breeders' or hoarders who keep ten or twenty parrots in their bedrooms and let the debris settle on everything and get into the air and never clean. I have forty or so birds in the spare room just down the hall from my bedroom and a cockatiel who lives IN the bedroom and I clean all the cages and vacuum the floor and dust every surface in the house on a daily basis. There is no visible dust in the air except for when I take down and clean nests, which I do right over a trash can. I provide a bath at all times to all of my birds which greatly reduces airborne feather debris.

[Sally]

I have more than 100 birds in a 12x14 bedroom right next to my bedroom, and it is a chore to keep up with the dust. I use really good filters on my heating/ac system, which I replace every month, instead of the three months that is recommended. A friend had to move her birds to an outside building when her husband developed allergies.