<font color=red>QUICK TIPS</font> Birds and Dropping Danger

Besides being a nuisance, pigeons and other birds can cause problems. If the feathered beasts are becoming a problem at some sites, it might be worth looking into pest prevention problems to avoid the following.

• Unhealthy environment. Do you know that birds and their droppings can carry more than 60 diseases that can invade and infect humans? You've heard of salmonella and bed bugs, but add to this list tongue-twisters such as histoplasmosis and cryptococcosis. Note that some diseases spread through droppings can even be fatal.  
• Filth. Not only are droppings unsightly and unappealing, but also they imply low-quality conditions. A dirty, dropping-laden scene can negatively impact well-being, morale and productivity.
• Lawsuit potential. Dropping-laden premises are begging for a slip-and-fall injury or an occupational disease lawsuit, not to mention air-quality issues.  Haven't insurance rates risen high enough?
• Droppings cost money and time. Couldn't employees be doing something more productive than cleaning up after birds?
• Property devaluation. Birds are destructive. Their droppings deface rooftops, walls, equipment, and vehicles. The corrosive effect of bird excrement causes irreversible damage and shortens the life of vital structures.

As reported in The Times-Tribune (Scranton, Pa.), Mr. Wright, one of the employees of the Lackawanna County courthouse, “was admitted to the hospital in October after months of sneezing and coughing that did not respond to antibiotics. He’s been diagnosed with hypersensitivity pneumonitis due to exposure to bird droppings.” 

Tests for histoplasmosis were not conducted prior to the clean up of the courthouse in Lackawanna County.  A year after the cleaning began, an air quality test still showed the presence of histoplasmosis. 

As reported in Vincennes Sun-Commercial (Vincennes, Ind.), Haley Warner, an employee of Pizza Hut, nearly went blind from the abundance of goose droppings around her workplace. 

“Someone should have said something about histoplasmosis and the disease these geese can cause,” she said, “I really didn’t get close to them, but their droppings were everywhere.” 

She now suffers from ocular histoplasmosis, “where the fungal spores have spread from the lungs to her eyes.  The fungus Warner says, ‘ate a hole in the back of my eye…looking back, I’d only been at Pizza Hut for two weeks when I must have inhaled those spores.’”

As reported in The News-Herald (Southgate, Mich.), “A township police officer has been hospitalized after becoming ill with an infectious disease he possibly contracted at Township Hall…. the headquarters for police and municipal employees.” 

Since people, “could be infected just by walking inside the facility,” warning sings were put up telling visitors about the building’s contamination due to bird and bat droppings.  For the officer, however, the warning came too late.  He “had to have a portion of his lung removed.  Tests were positive for histoplasmosis.”  

The information was provided by Bird-X, experts in bird and pest control since 1964. Visit www.bird-x.com  for more detailed information or a free evaluation via e-mail or phone.