A study conducted by Animal Health Research Center, Madrid on feral pigeons from the streets of the city reveals that the pigeons carry virulent bacteria which can cause gastro-intestinal diseases in humans.
The news caught notice when BioMed Central’s open access journal “Acta Vetinaria Scandinavica” published a research study on pigeons suggesting that the birds might pose a threat to human population due to presence of bacteria capable of causing pneumonia, abdominal pain, and diarrhoea.
The bacteria, named Chlamydia psittaci and Campylobacter jejuni, are present in a major bird population and are found to be more detrimental than Salmonella.
These pigeons serve as reservoirs for food and growth to bacterial species, hence leading to harmful diseases.
The study
Dr. Fernando Esperón from the Animal Health Research Center along with a team of researchers analysed blood and inoculation samples of 118 pigeons caught using gun-propelled nets. Later, he found that these samples had a high prevalence of transferable bacteria.
In the news release, Esperón said, “This research leads to the hypothesis that pigeons act as asymptomatic reservoirs of Chlamydia psittaci and Campylobacter jejuni. These birds may therefore pose a public health risk to the human population.”
Interestingly, there have been no reports of any kind of disease due to these bacteria in the birds themselves.
A fight for survival?
Reportedly, there’s been a constant increase in the population of wild pigeons in Britain in the last four decades.
According to the research statistics, Chlamydia psittaci was detected in 52.6 percent of the pigeons captured. This infection from this bacteria leads to symptoms like a mild flu-like illness to severe pneumonia.
Whereas, Campylobacter jejuni was present in 69.1 percent of the pigeons captured. It causes abdominal pain, diarrhoea, fever, and general malaise in infected humans.
Esperón further added, “Thermophilic Campylobacter species are considered the primary pathogens responsible for acute diarrhoea in the world. In fact, in many countries such as England and Wales, Canada, Australia and New Zealand Campylobacter jejuni infection causes more cases of acute diarrhoea than infection by Salmonella species.”
According to Dr. Jonathan Jacobs of NY Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center, histoplasmosis and cryptococcus are the most commonly known infections from these bacteria.
As a piece of advice he added that “for New Yorkers the window air conditioner often contains a lot of pigeon droppings.So, you should wear a mask and gloves as a precautionary step while cleaning air conditioners.”