Deadly droppings: How sweeping up bird waste could kill you
A Brisbane man has spoken out about how he contracted deadly fungal meningitis sweeping up bird waste at work.
The grandfather is urging everyone to wear protective clothing and even masks when cleaning up after pigeons and sparrows.
Milton Silcock had no idea that the birds could be deadly.
"I could be dead if I didn't go in and have the scan," Mr Silcock said.
The simple practice of sweeping up swallow droppings at his workplace for two years lead him to inhale cryptococcus a potentially deadly fungus that lives in bird faeces.
"I went in and that's when I found out I had seven lesions on my brain," he said.
Mycologist Associate Professor David Ellis said cryptococcos is a fungus that causes life threatening infections such as meningitis.
"World wide there are over a million infections a year with about 600,000 deaths," he said.
"In Australia we have a lot lower infection with about 30 infections per year."
Sufferers need to be treated with intravenous anti fungal medication and can have on going brain damage depending on how quickly they are diagnosed.
Bill King of Shine Lawyers said employers need to be critically aware that there is a risk associated with removing bird waste.
"The fungus in the bird waste can be breathed in and if that occurs it can lead to the development of this disease," he said.
Mr Silcock is hoping his case serves as a warning to employers and individuals to wear protective clothing when cleaning up after birds.
