The perils of pigeon droppings

[webfact]

 

Feeding birds is a lot of fun and helps people to connect with nature, which is known to bring benefits to health. It’s considered a form of merit-making to many people as they are helping the wildlife to survive. But doctors are warning that our avian friends can spread infectious diseases to humans through their dried feces that contain fungi and bacteria. Breathing these in can make people sick and even cause serious illness.  

 

Such cases have been recorded in the past and one of the most recent reported in the Thai media concerned an actor being rushed to hospital for treatment.

 

Last week, a Thai actor posted a warning on his personal Instagram about the danger of pigeon droppings while in hospital for an infection believed to be linked to bird poop.

 

The actor said that a couple of days earlier he was filming a TV series on location an ancient temple that is full of dust, bird droppings and insects. The weather was bad and it was pouring with rain.

 

He said he felt discomfort after work. His nose became inflamed and swollen the following day. The star went to a hospital for an examination. His doctor told him that he appeared to have caught an infection – a fungus called cryptococcus neoformans which can be found in pigeon droppings.

 

The actor reminded people to regularly wash their hands and keep in good health to ward off infection.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/the-perils-of-pigeon-droppings/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2022-12-12

 

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[Pique Dard]

there is a solution: pigeons are birds, let's eat them!

[roo860]

Disgusting creatures, flying rats.

[HuskerDo2]

Is this really news? Pigeons have been around for thousands of years. People have been feeding them in parks for hundreds of years. Life goes on.

[mikebell]

Any update on dog droppings?  How many tons of faeces crapped onto sois daily?  How many gallons of urine? All the fuss about hygiene/masks yet dogs are sacred cows allowed to freely wander amongst traffic distributing plastic/disease as they scavenge.

[jacko45k]

1 hour ago, HuskerDo2 said:

Is this really news? Pigeons have been around for thousands of years. People have been feeding them in parks for hundreds of years. Life goes on.

And more recently, particularly in the case of ducks, it is now regarded as a bad thing to take your kids to the park to feed them with left over bread.....

[Enzian]

I was just in southern France for 5 weeks and couldn't believe the number of people feeding those things. Feed them, just have more of them. Of course the French smoke relatively a lot, so there's that too.

[zzaa09]

3 hours ago, HuskerDo2 said:

Is this really news? Pigeons have been around for thousands of years. People have been feeding them in parks for hundreds of years. Life goes on.

Yes.....life.

Something that our kind is always looking to dissolve or dismantle in some superior oriented manner. 

[samtam]

Living in a high rise condo we constantly have pigeons perching on balcony balustrades, and leaving a souvenir of their visit. They are an annoying pest, but there is not much to be done to deter them, short of buying a hawk. I have tried a deterrent tablet from Daiso that is supposed to emit a smell that scares them, and it appeared to work.

[VocalNeal]

Vertical fishing lines about 10cm apart. Does involve a drill and some screws

[pattjock]

I thought it was illegal to feed pigeons. According to this you can be fined 25,000Baht or spend 3 months in prison. But as per usual there is no enforcement what so ever.

[d4dang]

I visited Haleshi Mahadev/Shiva Temple in Nepal which has large caves with hundreds of pigeons before and during the Maoist revolution. The Maoists ordered their cadres to eat the pigeons. In a few months the pigeons were almost eliminated. Thais might enjoy dining on pigeons. The Nepalis hunted the pigeons with slingshots.

[KhunLA]

Disgustingly dirty creatures in high numbers.   Almost killed my brother with respiratory infection.  He used to race them, and one specialist figured out it was the pigeons as the source of infection.  Sad the others didn't as I thought it was a bit obvious.  But who listens to me ... ????