Do bats or birds have a role in your world? If so, their droppings can contaminate areas like chicken coops, poultry houses, bird roosts and bat caves with Histoplasma capsulatum.
Histoplasma capsulatum is a mold, commonly growing in river valleys and soil where bird or bat droppings pile up. In the U.S., the southeast, mid-Atlantic and central states are endemic regions for histoplasma fungus.
If inhaled into your lungs, the airborne spores produced by this mold fungus causes histoplasmosis, a pulmonary respiratory infection. This often mild disease is typically handled by your immune system within a couple of days, without causing discernible symptoms.
In some cases, histoplasmosis can turn into a chronic or disseminated form of histoplasma mold fungus induced condition. Symptoms for chronic pulmonary histoplasmosis may parallel those of tuberculosis in that it causes:
For a very few, the disseminated form histoplasmosis takes a dangerous health toll. This widespread form of histoplasma infection can cause issues in your blood, meninges, adrenal glands and other organs.
Symptoms of disseminated histoplasmosis vary greatly, a sampler includes:
Disseminated histoplasmosis can be fatal if left untreated. And if you have cancer, AIDS, weakened immune system or any other form of immunosuppression, your risk for this widespread infection goes up.
Also, there is evidence that any degree of histoplasmosis can cause ocular histoplasmosis syndrome. This is a serious eye disease causing some vision loss.
Antifungal medications are used to treat histoplasmosis. Plus, a prior infection affords you partial resistance against reinfection.
So what’s a chicken coop owner or bat cave explorer to do in an effort to protect their health? Wear a mask whenever you wonder into these bird and bat dropping environments.