From Loving Birds to Fearing Them: The Lung Disease I Never Expected

MBBS
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Recently, when we moved into a new apartment, everything felt perfect—fresh walls, open balcony, morning sunlight… and a few pigeons visiting every day.

But within weeks, something strange started happening. One by one, everyone at home began feeling sick—dry cough, breathing difficulty, chest discomfort, and unexplained fever. We thought it was dust allergy… or maybe seasonal flu.

Until we discovered something unexpected—years of dried pigeon droppings and feathers around the balcony were silently filling the air with allergens. That’s when I learned about a condition called Bird Fancier’s Lung .

Bird fancier’s lung (BFL),

also known as bird breeder’s lung or pigeon lung , is
• A type of hypersensitivity pneumonitis which is triggered by inhaling the avian proteins in dry dust of variety of birds.
• Mechasnism:

When inhaled, these avian proteins reach to place of oxygen consumption and cause inflammation.
• Due to prolong exposure over a time, this inflammation turns into mass or granular formation leading to pulmonary fibrosis.

Risk factors:
• :bird: Bird’s feathers and droppings.
People who stay in bird farms for long periods or own many birds.
Bird hobbyists and pet store workers may also be at risk.

Signs and symptoms
• Starts with shortness of breath and dry cough
• Chest pain, chills and fever.

Antigens causing lung diseases come from
• BFL may be caused by allergens from pegion.
• parakeets, cockatiels, budgerigars, parrots, turtle doves, turkeys, chickens, and other birds.
• feathers in bedding.

Prevention
• Early recognition of signs such as dry cough lasting for more than 1 year.
• Use of net and bird spikes
• Removal of bedding and pillow of pegion or other birds.
• Avoid cleaning the dry droppings which increase spread of dust allergens
• Always use of gloves, N95 masks to prevent direct exposure.

Diagnosis and treatment
Use of lung X-ray which reveals ground glass apperence and other CT scans.
Blood test
Bronchscopy
• The only way of getting improved is by removing all avian proteins inhaled.
Doctor may recommended use of steroids for reducing inflammation.

Have you heard of this disease before or is it new? Share your thoughts!

MBH/PS

4 Likes
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Insightful content!

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Very informative, Thanks for sharing

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I recently observed one such case during my clinical postings.

The patient came with chief complaints of cough, fever and occasional shortness of breath. On further conversation with patient we got to know he has exposed to pigeons few days. Further evaluation were done including bronchoscopy , led to a diagnosis of pneumonitis likely related to pigeon exposure.

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This disease is new for me. I have never heard about it, but I have heard people talking about chance of developing lung diseases due to birds like pigeons.I have also seen people taking measures to restrict birds from entering their balconies.

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I was aware of this disease since my graduation days in Mumbai. As you know Mumbai is having large population of pigeons. Many activist were asking for rehabilitation of pigeons away from Mumbai, as many old age patients and children were suffering from dyspnea.

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Well written and insightful.

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A similar thing happened when my friend and I moved to this new apartment—the balcony was filled with pigeon droppings. My friend was regularly getting ill. Finally, we got pigeon safety nets installed and got our balcony deep cleaned, and eventually things got better. That was when I came across this menace of an issue.

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I honestly hadn’t heard of this disease before. It’s surprising how something we see every day can have such serious health effects.

Thanks for sharing such useful information!

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I have heard about this disease through different cases in the news, mostly related to pigeon exposure. Lately, I have studied pulmonary fibrosis in pulmonology, and it is irreversible but we can manage patients’ symptoms. A better way to prevent it is reducing exposure and using masks whenever possible.

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This was new to me! I didn’t realise that prolonged exposure to birds and their droppings could contribute to such a serious lung condition. It’s definitely something worth being aware of.