City dwellers have lived with pigeons for centuries. Cute pigeons have inspired artists and poets; both adults and children love to admire pigeons, but we rarely think about the fact that our feathered neighbors can be sources of dangerous diseases for humans. And the sign that a bird has put excrement on its head means money, but it can have completely different consequences. Vladimir Beketov, associate professor of Sechenov University, candidate of medical sciences and pulmonologist, explained to Komsomolskaya Pravda why communicating with pigeons can be dangerous to health and how to act safely.
WHY CAN COMMUNICATION WITH PIGEONS BE HARMFUL TO YOUR HEALTH?
Urban pigeons often peck at food thrown out on the street. Pigeons may drink from sewage, interact with household and food waste, and with urban rodents such as rats or their droppings.
— All this creates risks of transmission of infections. According to reference books on infectious diseases, various articles and studies conducted, including by our colleagues in biology, ornithology and microbiology, today there are about a hundred known infections that can be transmitted by birds and, in particular, by urban pigeons. And 10 of them are well studied and occur quite frequently, says Vladimir Beketov.
WHAT ERRORS ARE TRANSMITTED THROUGH PIGEONS?
1. Diseases affecting the gastrointestinal tract. For example, salmonellosis or campylobacteriosis and listeriosis.
These illnesses can manifest in similar ways: weakness, fever, nausea, vomiting, headache, upset stomach.
However, they are not as harmless as they seem. Salmonellosis can cause damage to the nervous system. Listeriosis causes fetal pathology in pregnant women.
Listeriosis can also start from the “gateway” through the respiratory organs and respiratory tract.
“It affects the tonsils, the oral cavity, and listeriosis can cause very serious damage to both the lungs and the nervous system, and it is also a very dangerous disease,” says our expert.
2. There are diseases that can affect different organs and systems: the lymphatic system, the respiratory system, the skin. Here we can name tularemia and psittacosis.
Tularemia is characterized by fever and damage to the lymph nodes with the formation of buboes. Most often, people get sick in the summer and autumn months, and natural foci of tularemia infection exist in all regions of our country.
Ornithosis can affect the lungs, nervous system and internal organs. Although the risks are higher, there are still risks to the respiratory system, our expert points out.
3. But there are also diseases that are quite difficult to treat. For example, fungal cryptococcosis. This fungal microorganism can affect various organs and systems, causing a dangerous and difficult-to-treat infection, including damage to the nervous system.
4. Few people remember that pigeons can also transmit allergens, which over time can cause the development of an allergic reaction in humans.
– Down, feathers and poultry waste can also be allergens. They can trigger the development of diseases caused by an allergen. These can be different types of pneumonia, including autoimmune-inflammatory pneumonia, which, for example, occurs in poultry farm workers or people who keep birds. And with this form of the disease, we will not find bacteria either in the blood or in the lungs,” says Vladimir Beketov.
5. In addition, pigeons are potential carriers of parasites.
– There are studies showing that urban pigeons can carry ticks, bedbugs and various bugs, which can also cause an allergic reaction and parasitic infection in humans. They can even transmit tapeworms. Of course, this is rare, but it is also possible, says our expert.
Pigeons can also transmit allergens, which over time can cause an allergic reaction to develop in humans.
Photo: Vladimir VELENGURIN. Go to Photobank KP
HOW CAN YOU GET INFECTED BY PIGEONS?
1. Through pigeon droppings, when their particles fall on hands and more, they are inhaled or swallowed and enter the gastrointestinal tract.
2. Dust suspended in the air through an aerosol.
In other words, infectious microorganisms reach us via the respiratory tract with dust, microparticles of moisture, particles of droppings and particles of pigeon feathers. This is how the pathogen can be transmitted. This is how one can contract Chlamydia psittaci and psittacosis, which is dangerous for the lungs, nervous system, liver and spleen.
3. Fecal-oral transmission routes and household contact.
When bird droppings come into contact with clothing, a towel, hands or household objects and then reach the stomach.
– Therefore, infection most often occurs when birds are fed by hand or when hands are not washed afterwards. When they try to remove pigeon droppings from a car, from household items, from windowsills, for example, from glass, without gloves, a mask or a respirator. And, above all, if the usual rules of personal hygiene are not followed,” says our expert.
FOR WHOM CAN COMMUNICATION WITH PIGEONS BE ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS?
1. Children are at risk because they are interested in everything and can come into close contact with pigeons. Therefore, small particles of droppings, bird saliva or feather particles can enter the child’s body through mucous membranes or hands.
“A child may simply not wash his hands, and thus an infection may occur,” says Vladimir Beketov. – Secondly, children walk, actively interact with the external environment, and unlike dogs, for example, they may not perceive birds as something dangerous.
2. Another risk group is people with immunodeficiency or so-called immunocompromised people who suffer from infections and chronic diseases.
– In older people, due to chronic diseases, there may be a deficiency in the activity of the immune system, or they may develop a parallel infection, and the body will find it very difficult to fight two infections at once. And then there is really a risk of getting sick from the same salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis, listeriosis, tularemia or cryptococcosis and other infections already mentioned,” says the doctor.
3. The third risk group is people who work with birds and have regular contact with them. These include, for example, those who breed pigeons, zoo and pet shop workers, and veterinarians. These include housing and communal services workers, street cleaners. Poultry farm workers are also at risk.
HOW TO FEED PIGEONS SAFELY?
1. It is definitely not out of control! Therefore, the risk of infection is higher, even through cracks and scratches, up to blood. It is better to keep your distance.
2. The ideal personal hygiene option is to wash your hands or disinfect them immediately after feeding the pigeons.
QUESTION FROM THE EDGE
– The H5N1 avian influenza virus has been identified as a potential danger that could cause a rapidly developing pandemic among humans. Could it come to us via pigeons?
– Today we know that the H5N1 influenza virus was isolated from poultry, for example from farm chickens. It circulates mainly in this population, but both quails and sparrows can be affected. Therefore, pigeons can potentially be carriers of this flu, although to date no such cases have been observed and there is no evidence that active transmission of this strain to humans is possible, but today it is unlikely that active circulation between people is possible. That is, it is possible that if both the causative agent of avian influenza and, consequently, some variant of influenza that causes an epidemic in humans are found in one organism, and they somehow mutate mutually, then there will be a process associated with further spread. But this is rather a hypothetical possibility, says our expert.
There have been cases where various strains of H5N1 avian influenza have caused severe outbreaks on poultry farms, but this has never developed into an epidemic or pandemic involving humans.
