Coronavirus: Signs, Symptoms, FAQs, and Treatments

How This Man's Bedding Gave Him 'Feather Duvet Lung'

How can a duvet affect your lungs when it is too big to go up your nostrils? (Photo: Getty Images)

Getty

The Corrs' song "Breathless" probably doesn't refer to a duvet. However, it was this type of fluffy bedding that left a man not only breathless but with a serious lung condition, according to a case report published in the journal BMJ Case Reports.

Wondering how something so soft and so comfortable could make you sick and even eventually be life-threatening? Well, in the words of the Corrs, go on, go on. This case report may leave you breathless.

For the case report, Patrick Liu-Shiu-Cheong of Victoria Hospital and Chris RuiWen Kuo, Struan WA Wilkie, and Owen Dempsey of the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in the UK told the tale of a 43-year-old man who saw his doctor in November 2016 after three months of feeling very tired and breathless. His doctor initially thought that the man had a lower respiratory tract infection but contrary to the Howard Jones song, things didn't get better afterwards. In fact, in December 2016, the man returned with worsening breathlessness to the point where he couldn't walk from one room to another without getting out of breath.

Here is how bad things got in the words of the patient: "Two months after the onset of the symptoms, I was unable to stand or walk for more than a few minutes at a time without feeling like I was going to pass out. Going upstairs to bed was a 30 min activity as I could only manage two stairs at a time and then needed to sit and rest. I was signed off work and spent most of the time asleep (day and night)."

At first glance, the man didn't have any obvious reasons to be so breathless. He wasn't a smoker. His workplace didn't expose him to anything unusual. His main hobby was playing guitar and saxophone for a band, and nothing indicated that he was sticking either of these instruments up his nostrils.

Ah, but one piece of history proved to be important: he had recently "acquired" both a feather duvet and feather pillows. Why was this relevant? Go on, go on.

Breathing tests demonstrated that his lungs could not hold or breathe out as much air as normal. Also, oxygen and carbon dioxide weren't moving as well between his lungs and his blood vessels as they should.

A CT of his chest revealed a "ground glass" pattern in both of his lungs. Some lymph nodes in his chest were somewhat enlarged as well. These findings were consistent with a condition called HP. No, not the computer manufacturer but hypersensitivity pneumonitis.

"Pigeon breeder's lung" is a variation of hypersensitivity penumonitis. (Photo: Getty Images)

Getty

HP is basically a severe allergic reaction in your lungs. It occurs when your lungs generate an immune reaction to some substance that you continue to breathe in over a period of time. This substance can be dust, mold, bird droppings, or a range of other things, including, duvet roll please, feathers. When the offending substance is feathers in a duvet, HP is called "feather duvet lung." When it is feathers on a bird, the term often used is "bird fancier's lung." When HP occurs in a person breeding pigeons, it is called "pigeon breeder's lung." If the feathers were on a human in a giant chicken costume, well that doesn't occur often enough to have its own name.

Wait there's more. Breathing in mold from hay or grain can lead to what's called "farmer's lung," not to be confused with a farmer's tan. "Humidifier lung" may result from fungus growing in, guess what, humidifiers or some similar air exchange device like an air conditioner. Then there is "hot tub lung," which may sound a bit sexy, but totally isn't. The bacteria in hot tubs can travel through the water vapor into your nose and lungs. Yeah, it's not always good if what's in a hot tub makes you breathless.

Not all duvets have real feathers in them. If you are having an allergic reaction, you can try one ... [+] with synthetic stuffing instead. (Photo: Getty Images)

Getty

The doctor subsequently prescribed the man in the case report steroids to calm the reaction and inflammation in his lungs and told him to get rid of the feather duvet and pillows. As a safeguard, the man also cleaned his dwelling of mold. According to the man, the steroids "had a transformative effect within 2 days. At the same time, having assumed that a possible cause of the allergy was feather bedding, I replaced them with hypoallergenic bedding."

Eventually, everything turned to normal for the man. As he related, "the course of steroids continued ultimately for 12 months, with a gradual reduction in dose over time. I have thankfully been able to stop them completely. My oxygen saturation level nowadays is regularly 97%–98% which I understand to be normal for someone my age, and I have not had any dizzy turns since recovering. It doesn't affect me at all now and my life is pretty much as it was before."

Fortunately, doctors caught his condition early enough to reverse the inflammation. If HP continues unchecked for too long, lung scarring can result. Such damage, called pulmonary fibrosis, is permanent and irreversible. Not surprisingly pulmonary fibrosis can interfere with your ability to breathe and exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide. If it gets bad enough, it can be life threatening because you gotta be able to breathe to live.

So, if something is leaving you breathless and it's not someone whom you fancy, you may want to check your surroundings for anything that may causing an allergic reaction in your lungs. Could it be from your feathering your nest or your cap or anything else? It could also be your hot tub, your air conditioner, or the many bales of hay that you keep in your bedroom. Or perhaps it's the pigeons that you are breeding by the dozens in your kitchen.

Before you get too paranoid about your bedding, your air conditioner, or the flocks of pigeons inside your house, keep in mind that conditions like "feather duvet lung" are still relatively uncommon. That's why this case became a case report. Regardless, take any chronic breathlessness that you may have seriously and see your doctor before you get to a point where after even the slightest touch, you feel weak.

What Diseases Can You Catch From Budgies?

There are diseases that can be transferred to humans from psittacine birds, such as parrots and budgies, such as a viral infection.

In addition, people can also show an allergic reaction to feathers and other bird products. This condition is often called pigeon fanciers or budgie fancier's lung.

However, the most serious is called psittacosis. With this disease, an agent called Chlamydia psittaci causes it, and the disease is also called ornithosis.

Birds can be asymptomatic carriers, and may only fall ill when upset, as stress is a major component in all avian diseases.

The clinical signs of psittacosis are wide ranging. Some birds affected with it appear quite healthy, but others in the acute stage of the disease can show some or all of the following signs

• Severe depression

• Ruffled feathers

• Lack of appetite

• Problems breathing

• A discharge from the eyes and nose

• Watery diarrhoea

Psittacosis is a very unpredictable disease but can be very contagious and it can cause a serious illness in humans. However, people can work in pet shops for years without being affected!

The symptoms in humans range from mild flu-like symptoms to a severe generalised infection with complications that can affect the brain, blood and kidneys.

The illness often begins with a chill, fever and headache in the front of the head. There is often a cough and occasionally there is diarrhoea. If untreated, the condition can lead to kidney failure and even death.

{"status":"error","code":"499","payload":"Asset id not found: readcomments comments with assetId=172363, assetTypeId=1"}

Peter Willoughby Killed By Allergy To Pigeons Inquest Into His Death Concludes

A HAMPSHIRE grandad has died after suffering from a pigeon allergy.

Peter Willoughby allowed a friend to keep pigeons at the bottom of his garden and spent more than 25 years cleaning bird mess off windscreens at Ford.

But the 72-year-old did not know that an allergy to the birds was slowly killing him.

It was not until years later that he found out that an allergy to the pigeons was scarring his lungs.

Peter Willoughby with his great granddaughter Emily.

Winchester Coroner's Court heard how the 72-year-old's frequent contact with the birds both at home and at work over such a long period caused permanent damaged to his lungs – commonly known as pigeon fancier's lung – which ultimately killed him.

The hearing was told that Peter had built a pigeon loft where his friend and business partner, pigeon fancier Gary Vear, could keep his birds at the back of the Totton newsagents which they owned from 1989.

When Peter and his wife Teresa left Test News in 2007, the pigeons moved with them to the bottom of their 100ft garden in Shepherd's Hey Road and later to their bungalow at Calmore Gardens.

But while the birds lived in his garden, Peter rarely went near them, leaving their care to Gary.

So when doctors revealed his allergy to the birds were the reason for his deteriorating health, his family were completely shocked.

Speaking at the inquest, his daughter, Yvonne Gawn, said: "He built the lofts but they were empty at the time. Other than that he had no contact with them whatsoever. He literally just walked past them.

She added: "The hospital felt that because they knew there were pigeons on the home premises they said that must be how he had got it but he never had that much contact. He didn't like them particularly."

The inquest also heard a statement from Peter's former Ford workmate Adam Dudkowiak, in which he described how glass was stored at a unit in Barton Park where there was a pigeon problem.

He said windscreens would arrive heavily-coated with pigeon droppings and Peter's main job was to clean them.

The inquest was told how the dad-of-three's health deteriorated in 2013 and in his final months he was unable to move around on his own as he struggled to breathe due to the scarring on his lungs caused by a reaction to microscopic particles of pigeon feathers and faeces in the air.

Last summer Peter was rushed to Southampton General Hospital, where he died on August 13, surrounded by family.

Giving a narrative verdict, senior coroner Grahame Short said: "For a number of years Mr Willoughby was working in an environment where he was exposed and in his home he was also exposed to feathers and excreta when he was close to the pigeon loft in his back garden.

"I think it was a combination of those two factors."

He recorded his cause of death as end-stage lung disease and a form of pneumonia triggered by the allergy to pigeons and the reaction of the heart.

Speaking after the hearing, his family paid tribute to the grandfather-of-five and great-grandfather-of three who had married Teresa, his childhood sweetheart, 51 years ago.

Teresa, 73, said: "He suffered for a long time but everybody involved in his care was excellent. It was heart wrenching to see somebody so independent go downhill like that.

"It must have been hell for him but he never complained."

"He wasn't into pigeons. He didn't mind watching them from a distance. If he did go anywhere near them he put a mask on.

She added: "Nothing will bring him back. We lived our lives around Peter. He was a clever person. He knew everything."

Extrinsic allergic alveolitis – known as pigeon fancier's lung

WHILE many people may not have heard of it, it's relatively common among pigeon fanciers.

Figures from British Pigeon Fanciers medical research team reveal that up to 22 per cent of pigeon fanciers across the globe suffer from the allergy and up to 31 per cent in Britain.

The allergic reaction affecting the lungs is experienced by different people in different ways depending on how sensitive they are to pigeon dust, feathers and droppings.

Symptoms normally show two to six hours after contact with pigeons and include shortness of breath, exhaustion, weight loss, dry coughs, headaches, aching joints and sweating.

It is unclear how much contact a person can have with pigeons before they are likely to get it.

The illness itself is not usually fatal and most people only experience problems from time to time, but it can cause chronic illnesses and lung damage which can lead to death.

Stewart Wardrop, manager of the Royal Pigeon Racing Associatio,n said he had never heard of someone dying from the condition.

It is recommended that pigeon fanciers wear masks, caps, jackets and possibly even goggles when near the birds – especially when cleaning them out.

---