Understanding Bird Fancier's Lung Disease

[AZWhitefeather]

Bird Fancier's Lung Disease is a subject that hasn't been touch on much. Recently, I've noticed an increased interest. Because of this, & my own experience, I think it's worthy of being discussed further & perhaps in detail.

The reason I chose to post this thread in the 'Pet' forum is because the majority of us own pigeons.

For 2 1/2 years doctors have been guessing what might be causing the symptoms I was experiencing.
At times, I was unable to walk 10 steps without having to stop & rest.
I was forced to take 'baby breaths' as I was unable to take a nice deep breath.
Many times I wouldn't answer the phone because I couldn't complete a sentence without going into a violent coughing spell which would last for 5-10 minutes.

After being put on every type of inhaler on the market, with no relief, I finally pleaded to be put on a course of Prednisone. Within two days, I was ready to run a marathon. Within two days of finishing the Prednisone, all symptoms returned.

For a couple of reasons (one, nothing seemed to be getting accomplished), I switched primary doctors.
My routine visits to the doctor were to check my BP & make sure it was behaving itself.

When I visited my 'new' doctor, I explained that I had this annoying cough. He ordered a chest X-ray which was normal.

He, as well, tried medication after medication, to no avail. A follow up X-ray was ordered. This time it revealed 'Hyperinflated Lungs'.

Again, I suggested the Prednisone therapy & explained why. Hesitant, he finally agreed to it. And once again, two days after starting the Prednisone I was symptom free & two days after finishing it, the symptoms reappeared. A third chest X-ray was ordered, which revealed air trapping.

At that point he said it was time to seek the advice of a pulmonary doctor.

The pulmonary doctor entered the room, introduced himself & began asking questions.
Do I smoke? No.
Do I work around hazardous materials? No.
What are my hobbies? I paused for a second & before I could get another word out, he asked if I'm around birds. Yes. He asked about the history of me & my birds.

Without hesitation, he suggested Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis, AKA, Extrinsic Allergic Alveolitis, Bird Fancier's Lung Disease & a few other names. To help confirm his diagnosis, he suggested having a CT scan (which was normal) & a PFT (Pulmonary Function Test) which was severely abnormal & supported the X-ray findings.
I did address the Prednisone therapy to him. He said, while it does help a the time, it is only masking the problem. Which makes perfect sense to me.

Upon each visit to the doctors they all heard a 'crackling' upon inhalation, which also supports the abnormal X-rays findings.

The only reason I have brought my situation public is to educate those who would never think that a cough or fatigue may in fact be the onset of this horrible illness.
I'm not insinuating that everyone should panic if they have a cough or are a bit fatigued, rather be alert if you develop a lingering cough or become extremely fatigued without reason.

It never entered my mind that I was at risk as I only had 7 pigeons at the time I began showing symptoms. I thought this illness only affected those who had lots of pigeons.

Given the results of all the tests & my background, I have been diagnosed with Severe Chronic Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis.

Considering the length of time I have been dealing with this & the condition my lungs are in right now, I very well may be in an irreversible state. I truly hope not.
A follow up PFT will be done the latter part of August.
Sadly, my continued exposure to the birds is only adding unsult to injury.

I never kept it a secret from the doctors that I had birds.

Here are a few links to informative website regarding this illness.

Cindy

Extrinsic Allergic Alveolitis
http://www.emedicine.com/radio/topic276.htm

British Pigeon Fanciers Medical Research
http://www.pigeon-lung.co.uk/main.html

British Lung Foundation (Extrinsic Allergic Alveolitis)
http://www.lunguk.org/you-and-your-l...alveolitis.htm

Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperse...ty_pneumonitis

[Charis]

Thank you Cindy. This is very valuable information and we all need to be aware and educated on this topic. It's really a very serious mater.

[Maggie-NC]

Cindy, thank you for the wonderful information in this thread and I appreciate so much you sharing your personal experience dealing with this disease.

[AZWhitefeather]

Originally Posted by Charis

Thank you Cindy. This is very valuable information and we all need to be aware and educated on this topic.
It's really a very serious mater.

I never realized how serious, until I became a victim.
I'm hoping that by discussing this, & early detection, we can save others from going through it.

This has literally turned my world upside down. Not just from my pigeon & health standpoint, but from a family standpoint as well. This affects Chuck & Sean greatly. Chuck, because he travels & Sean, because he witnesses everything that happens.

Originally Posted by Lady Tarheel

Cindy, thank you for the wonderful information in this thread and I appreciate so much you sharing your personal experience dealing with this disease.

Although this is completely out of character for me, as my personal life stays at home & OFF the computer, I did feel this was extremely important to post about.

BTW for those who might not have seen this thread, Philodice posted some good information on this subject in the Resource forum. Here's the link.
http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f25/pr...622#post300622

Cindy

[Feefo]

Thank you Cindy, I know that you are a very private person.

It is so important to take precautions before becoming sensitised to avian protein, for example by routinely wearing a mask not only when cleaning a cage, aviary or loft but when carrying out tasks that require close contact such as hand raising babies.

It never entered my mind that I was at risk as I only had 7 pigeons at the time I began showing symptoms. I thought this illness only affected those who had lots of pigeons.

I thought that I should mention that this condition is caused by sensitivity to any avian protein, not just to pigeons. I was talking to one of our members a couple of days ago and she told me that she has irreversible lung damage. When I asked if the pigeons had caused it she said no, it was her parrot.

A person with an indoor budgie is in as much, if not more, risk of developing sensitisation as a person with a loft full of pigeons.

Like Cindy, I have "pigeon lung disease" , I am pretty certain that I became sensitised to pigeon protein because I kept my sick rescues in my bedroom so I received prolonged and intense exposure.

Cynthia

[AZWhitefeather]

Originally Posted by cyro51

Thank you Cindy, I know that you are a very private person.

It is so important to take precautions before becoming sensitised to avian protein, for example by routinely wearing a mask not only when cleaning a cage, aviary or loft but when carrying out tasks that require close contact such as hand raising babies.

* I thought that I should mention that this condition is caused by sensitivity to any avian protein, not just to pigeons.
I was talking to one of our members a couple of days ago and she told me that she has irreversible lung damage. When I asked if the pigeons had caused it she said no, it was her parrot.

A person with an indoor budgie is in as much, if not more, risk of developing sensitisation as a person with a loft full of pigeons.

** Like Cindy, I have "pigeon lung disease", I am pretty certain that I became sensitised to pigeon protein because I kept my sick rescues in my bedroom so I received prolonged and intense exposure.

Cynthia

* Thanks for pointing that out, Cynthia.

** If I'm not mistaken, our symptoms began around the same time.

Cindy

[philodice]

I thought I might add that odds of getting pigeon lung for bird owners who have inside birds and hand raise babies can be as high as 21%, and that owning any rabbit or rat as a pet can cause similar illness at a rate as high as 7%.
Members may have noticed my increased interest in the subject, that really started when I was building my e-book.

Whether pigeons cause illness is a big topic in the FAQ of the book. I was hoping to be able to emphatically say that pigeons were not a health threat. Research turned up some very important information. I contacted the professor that wrote the prevention article and had a chat. Sharing information is the best way I can think of to help.

[amoonswirl]

Thank you Cindy for sharing this information. I'm very sorry to hear that you are suffering those awful symptoms. I hope that you will find some relief from them.

I really appreciate the informative links. I've been concerned about my husband because he gets a severe congestion whenever he's near the birds. We are keeping an eye on it, and also moving the birds to an outdoor loft because no matter how careful, the dust still comes in the house every time I open the aviary door.

[Dezirrae]

Thank you so much for sharing this information Cindy. I know I'm going to put more effort into keeping the areas around the cages vaccumed and dusted now. I am so sorry that you, and your family, are having to go through this though My thoughts are with you.

General question for anyone that's read up on this disease... Would it also stand to reason that if human's can be so affected, would other pets also be affected? In my case I'm thinking of my cats but I know other's here have many more pets than I do.

[AZWhitefeather]

Originally Posted by amoonswirl

Thank you Cindy for sharing this information. I'm very sorry to hear that you are suffering those awful symptoms. I hope that you will find some relief from them.

I really appreciate the informative links. I've been concerned about my husband because he gets a severe congestion whenever he's near the birds. We are keeping an eye on it, and also moving the birds to an outdoor loft because no matter how careful, the dust still comes in the house every time I open the aviary door.

Chuck will be home this evening & while he is home we're going to get the materials needed to enclose the patio & then move the aviary outside. That's the only option I have left. And I don't even know if that's going to be good enough. Time will tell.

Originally Posted by Dezirrae

Thank you so much for sharing this information Cindy.
* I know I'm going to put more effort into keeping the areas around the cages vaccumed and dusted now.

I am so sorry that you, and your family, are having to go through this though My thoughts are with you.

General question for anyone that's read up on this disease...

** Would it also stand to reason that if human's can be so affected, would other pets also be affected? In my case I'm thinking of my cats but I know other's here have many more pets than I do.

* While that, of course, is very important, it's equally important that you protect yourself while cleaning.
THAT'S what I didn't do for 4 years. And I just happened to be one of those who became extremely sensitive.

** We acquired our cat, Reese, when he was three weeks old (which was nearly 6 years ago). Mikko came to live with us 2 weeks later, (& the rest of the birds followed) so Reese has been in contact with the birds since birth practically. He has been diagnosed with asthma, which I have no doubt is, in part, due to the feather dust.

Cindy

[nbdyuknow]

This probably isn't applicable for every situation, but I thought I would share something that (seemingly) has worked well with Sophie and I. First we were in an apartment where Sophie's home was located in the dining room. Now we are in a house where her home is located in the living room, and she has a second home that is located in the bedroom where she sleeps at night. She isn't in either of those all that often, only when no one else is at home or she is sitting on her eggs.

What I did was take a 20" box fan, and got a 20 x 20 x 1 furnace filter, and duct-taped the filter to the back of the fan. Then, I put the fan in a window, with the front of the fan facing outside so the filter side was facing inside next to Sophie's home. I let the fan run continiously at medium speed. It is amazing the amount of feather dust and other debris that was collected by the furnace filter fan. I changed it every two-three months.

Just a suggestion on one possible way of improving interior air quality, without spending a lot on a fancy air purifying system (box fan=$20, filters=$9.00-$20.00), and still getting some benefit.

Bill B.