What diseases do pigeons carry: how can you get infected and dangerous infections for humans

Doves are an integral part of the urban landscape, these birds symbolize a happy life and purity of feelings, but you should not contact them. More than 50 infections can attack the body of a bird, many of which are transmitted to humans. The owner of the dovecote must know what dangerous diseases the pigeons carry, carefully monitor the he alth of the pets, otherwise the epidemic will greatly reduce the livestock, and the person himself will have to be treated for a long time.

Tularemia

By appearance and behavior, it is impossible to understand whether a pigeon is infected with a bacterial infection or not.The carriers are the pigeons themselves and the ticks living in the dovecote. It is enough for a person to stroke a bird to become infected. Incubation lasts 5-7 days. Sometimes the asymptomatic period is delayed for 3 weeks, and sometimes symptoms appear several hours after infection.

There are several forms of pathology:

• generalized - accompanied by symptoms of general intoxication;
• bubonic - the infection penetrates the skin;
• conjunctival - the mucous membranes of the eyeballs become infected;
• ulcerative - ulcers appear on the site that is the focus of infection;
• anginous - inflammation of the tonsils, provoked by oral infection;
• abdominal - the intestinal tract is affected;
• pneumonic - accompanied by damage to the bronchi and the development of pneumonia.

Symptoms of disease in humans:

• redness and swelling of the face;
• temperature increase;
• rashes on the skin and oral mucosa;
• lack of appetite;
• muscle weakness in the body;
• trembling limbs;
• intense headache;
• enlarged lymph nodes;
• intense abdominal pain due to liver enlargement.

The disease is easily transmitted from a pigeon to a person, but infection does not occur between people.

With proper treatment, the body quickly returns to normal. If symptoms are ignored, pneumonia develops. Treatment is with antibiotics. Dovecote owners and others at risk should be vaccinated every 5 years.

Toxoplasmosis

Pigeons become infected with a single cell pathogen by eating contaminated food. The infection affects birds and mammals. Birds are symptomatic. Sick pigeons do not eat, move chaotically, stagger when walking, they experience convulsions. No more than 50% of infected individuals survive, their disease becomes chronic. A person becomes infected by direct contact with a sick bird and its droppings. Blood-sucking parasites that live on the body of pigeons also carry the infection.

For a person with strong immunity, the disease is not dangerous, usually asymptomatic. Less commonly, there is an acute or chronic course, accompanied by:

• acute - fever, vomiting, headache, liver enlargement, convulsions;
• chronic - slight fever, headache, swollen lymph nodes, deterioration of the liver and other internal organs, sometimes vision problems.

The disease is dangerous for a pregnant woman and the embryo developing in the womb. In most cases, intrauterine fetal death occurs. A surviving child is born with severe mental retardation, affected by the central parts of the nervous system and internal organs. Antibiotics are used for treatment.

Pseudotuberculosis

Also called Far East Fever. The pathogenic bacterium spreads through food, infects birds and mammals. Sick pigeons are dangerous to people in constant contact with them, although the likelihood of infection through food is low.

Sick pigeons are lethargic, disheveled, holding their heads incorrectly, breathing heavily. There is no cure, infected individuals must be destroyed.

In humans, the disease is accompanied mainly by symptoms typical of an intestinal infection:

• significant increase in temperature;
• vomit;
• pain in the head, muscles and abdomen;
• weakness;
• chill;
• intense diarrhea with up to 12 bowel movements a day;
• output of brownish-green, foaming, foul-smelling feces, sometimes with mucous and blood inclusions.

Sometimes the disease affects the joints, then they mistakenly diagnose "arthralgia". In this case, there are no intestinal symptoms, but the joints hurt, skin rashes and symptoms of damage to the digestive tract appear.

In the generalized course of the disease, the temperature rises to 38-40 ° C, vomiting and muscle weakness are noted, later - conjunctivitis and liver enlargement.After half a month, the skin, mainly on the limbs, becomes covered with rashes. A month later, a person recovers from infection, the previously inflamed skin begins to peel off.

The septic course of the pathology is characterized by a long course (up to a year), it is noted with a deficiency of immunity, the temperature reaches 40 ° C, the person looks weak, anemic, he is shivering. The probability of death is 80%. Treat pseudotuberculosis with antibiotics. The patient should eat according to the therapeutic diet.

Campylobacteriosis

A bacterial disease carried by pigeons is accompanied by a lesion of the digestive tract in humans. Infection is possible through food, if hand hygiene is not observed.

Incubation lasts up to 2 days. Next, the person shows the following symptoms, lasting 3-4 days:

• drawing pain in the abdomen;
• vomit;
• diarrhea, exit of liquid, foul-smelling feces, sometimes with blood inclusions;
• temperature increase;
• joint and muscle pain.

In the chronic course of the disease, the symptoms are similar, but less pronounced.

In women, campylobacteriosis is often accompanied by vaginal discharge. And in children, the disease has symptoms similar to cholera.

For treatment, antibiotics "Erythromycin", "Tetracycline", as well as drugs of the fluoroquinolone group are used. With immunodeficiency and early childhood, a fatal outcome is possible.

Infectious listeriosis

A person can catch the infection by direct contact with birds, their feces and mucous secretions, and also by inhaling dusty air. The duration of the incubation period is from a couple of days to several months.

Symptomatology is variable, determined by the form of the disease:

• acute - headache, muscle and joint pain, chills, later enlargement of the liver, inflammation of the lymph nodes, red rashes, most abundant on the face and in the articulation areas of the joints;
• glandular - fever, symptoms of tonsillitis, inflammation and soreness of the cervical lymph nodes, enlargement of the liver, in isolated cases, conjunctivitis;
• visceral - fever, symptoms of tonsillitis, impaired defecation, enlargement and soreness of the lymph nodes, expansion of liver tissue;
• nervous - feverish, convulsive and delusional state, headache, clouding of consciousness, mental disorder, decreased skin sensitivity, sagging eyelids, change in pupil diameter;
• mixed - headache, muscle and joint pain, fever, symptoms of tonsillitis, liver enlargement, inflammation of the lymph nodes, blurred signs of nervous breakdown.

Chronic listeriosis is asymptomatic, symptoms of SARS are sometimes noted. When a bacterial infection of the nervous system is captured, encephalitis, meningitis with a highly probable fatal outcome may develop.

When listeriosis is infected, it is recommended to terminate the pregnancy. The child will be born dead or premature, in the second case, he will not live even a month.

The disease is treated with antibiotics "Tetracycline" and "Penicillin". The course lasts half a month.

Newcastle disease

Normally bird-borne viral infections do not infect humans, with the only exception being Newcastle disease, aka the worm. Pigeons transmit the infection through close contact, but the pathology does not have serious consequences for humans.Usually there are symptoms similar to SARS and conjunctivitis.

Psittacosis

He's ornithosis. The disease caused by chlamydia affects the lung system. Having entered the body through the respiratory system, the infection spreads through the bloodstream through the internal organs. Ornithosis is also called avian rabies. Pigeons become infected by eating contaminated food, often dying. And a person catches the infection through contact with infected birds and inhalation of dusty air in the dovecote.

A sick person has:

• shortness of breath, lung failure;
• cough;
• muscle loosening;
• bone pain;
• temperature increase;
• liver dysfunction;
• nerve disorders.

The disease is treated with antibiotics. The course lasts 2-3 months. Immunity in a recovered person is unstable, there is a risk of re-infection.

Salmonellosis

One of the most common infections carried by pigeons. The bacterium is spread through faeces, a person becomes infected through poor hygiene after contact with birds and their food.

The duration of incubation is a day or two. The disease is acute or asymptomatic. In the second case, a person carries an infection, without even suspecting it, infects others.

The acute course of the disease is not life-threatening, but the symptoms are unpleasant:

• vomit;
• disruption of the stomach;
• mild abdominal pain;
• violation of bowel movements;
• output of yellowish-green, foul-smelling feces;
• weakness;
• sometimes a sharp rise in temperature.

Salmonellosis is treated with penicillin drugs and fluoroquinolones. With proper treatment, recovery occurs after 2 weeks.

How not to get infected from pigeons?

Because infectious diseases are most often transmitted through direct contact, care must be taken when interacting with urban birds.

To prevent pigeons from causing infection, the following preventive rules should be observed:

• minimize contact with street packs;
• do not let your child come into close contact with birds;
• do not feed pigeons by hand, pour food into the feeder or on the pavement;
• do not eat or drink while pigeons are feeding nearby;
• after touching the pigeons, wash your hands thoroughly with a hygiene product;
• regularly clean and disinfect the dovecote, clean domestic and transport air conditioners;
• do not touch a sick bird (it should be treated by a veterinarian).

The main rule of prevention is hygiene. Only in this way the diseases carried by pigeons will not be terrible, will not cause serious consequences.

Recommended