Deadly pigeons....

DOCTORS have warned of a big increase in the number of people catching infections from pigeons and other wild birds.

"Chlamydia psittaci is probably the most important and it causes a respiratory infection in humans which can be fatal and is often associated with neurological conditions.

"Some time ago we had a 60-year-old woman who died of an infection that she probably acquired from a dead pigeon that her cat had brought into the house.

"She probably breathed in dust from the dead faeces that were infected. A local GP was off work for four weeks after acquiring an infection from pigeons nesting outside the door of his surgery. Another man became ill after removing nests on his house prior to painting it."

Birds carry the infection in their guts and once they have it they never lose it, even though they themselves may be unaffected by it. Up to 60 per cent of some species may have the bacteria, which is usually passed on when humans unknowingly breathe in the dried and powdered faeces.

[link to www.independent.co.uk]