Unfortunately I have also heard from people who have problems with their sight or lungs years later. Histoplasmosis is an infectious, but non-contagious fungal disease caused by Histoplasma capsulatum. Hopefully, this article hasn’t scared you – but instead enlightened you on the dangers of histoplasmosis. Symptoms of this infection vary greatly, but the disease affects primarily the lungs. The good news is that histoplasmosis is not contagious. There are plenty of reasons to practice proper spacing and good housing practices when it comes to your chicken coop. Before you head out to work in the chicken coop (like to clean it), spray it down with water. Therefore, you should use some other kind of bedding, like shredded paper or straw, to keep your chickens comfortable. Before anyone cleans chicken coops or other contaminated soil, spraying with water is advisable to reduce dust. Histoplasmosis and chickens According to the Mayo Clinic: Do your best to limit the amount of contact that your chickens have with wild birds. Related reading: Ocular Histoplasmosis, the bird droppings disease from Mother Earth news. Although bats can be helpful when it comes to eliminating mosquito and other pest populations, you don’t want them hanging around the house, garden, or chicken coop too much. Although this disease, spread by spores of the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum, is extremely uncommon where I live, in New York, it is very common in the central and southern portions of the United States. This is also why you changed out of your dusty clothes after cleaning the coop! The disease occurs worldwide, however it has been found to be indigenous in areas in the United States bordering the Missouri, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers. Copyright 2010-2020 Murano Chicken Farm. For example, inhalation of dust aerosolized from the dirt floors of chicken coops that contained H. capsulatum spores was reported more than 30 years ago as the cause of clinical cases of histoplasmosis in workers. All in all, the symptoms are very similar to those of the flu. My dad had a severe form of this. Histoplasmosis is most common in the United States, where it’s found in the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys. Chickens do not necessarily transmit it directly to you. Make sure you wash your hands and ideally shower after working in your garden, too. Often, treatment is not necessary if you only have a mild case. Many doctors will recommend staying out of chicken coops if you have a weakened immune system. To give you an idea of how bad it is, histoplasmosis is very similar to tuberculosis. Spray contaminated surfaces. Before anyone cleans chicken coops or other contaminated soil, spraying with water is advisable to reduce dust. Histoplasmosis causes mild to severe symptoms that usually appear about three to seventeen days after exposure. Make sure your chickens are not overcrowded (and, just as importantly, make sure they aren’t overstressed). This one is perhaps one of the most difficult, as it’s impractical for people who keep chickens. If you have a chronic lung disease, like emphysema, your symptoms can develop into a more chronic form of histoplasmosis, too. Yes, you can catch histoplasmosis, and not just from your chickens, but fron other birds as well. If you are a farmer or somebody who works with chickens, you’re at an increased risk. Or maybe we eat so many eggs becau... Chickens can be expensive. If that’s not a possibility, consider wearing a respirator mask to protect you from exposure to the spores. In fact, many people that do contract histoplasmosis will think they have a mild cold or the flu. For example, if you are older than 55 or a child younger than the age of two, you’re more likely to contract the severe form of the disease. They can carry the spore son thief reet, wings, and beaks of birds. However, since your body has experienced the disease before, you’re less likely to get it as severely. Prevention of histoplasmosis relies on avoiding exposure to dust in a contaminated environment. These spores float around in the air when dirt or other kinds of material (like bedding) is disturbed. The bad news, though, is that if you get histoplasmosis once, you can definitely get it again. It can be contracted when you dig in the soil. It can have serious complications though so please, see the mayo clinic link above for more information or if you think you may have contracted histoplasmosis.