Homeowner Newsletter: Spring 2018
©2018 Jeffrey C. May
Feathers are the go-to stuffing for luxury bedding and for some decorative pillows, as well as for some practical outerwear and sleeping bags. The feathers come from geese or ducks (or other unknowns, depending on the bird source). Most feather fillings come from China and are obtained by plucking the feathers from live animals: a form of torture if you watch any of the videos on YouTube.
But this piece is not about the suffering endured by the de-feathered birds (which is a worthy concern), but rather is about the suffering of humans who may be exposed to and sensitized to the bioaerosol from feather products.
Bioaerosol is anything that you can inhale in the air that came from a living thing or is itself a living thing; mold spores, pet dander, bacteria, and viruses are all familiar bioaerosols.
One bioaerosol that you probably have never heard of is bird bloom. People who keep birds in their homes may be familiar with the term, because birds produce a white dust that is suspended in the air when they flap their wings. After a while, the particles from the feathers settle out of the air and are deposited on surfaces as a fine white dust.
In some urban areas in America, pigeon coops on rooftops used to be common sights. And now many people have one or two birds such as cockatiels, parakeets or parrots that are pets in their homes.
Some individuals who are around birds for a while can acquire Bird Fancier’s Lung (BFL), also known as allergic alveolitis or
hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP). Exposure by inhalation of bird bloom is a cause for this disease. The symptoms are cough, chills and fatigue, and can resemble many other lung diseases including asthma, so diagnosis of BFL is sometimes difficult to make.
Bird bloom was not recognized as the cause of BFL until recently. The bird antigens that cause BFL are carried on the bird-bloom particles, which are very small and can be inhaled deep into the lungs, even into the alveoli.
The sizes of small particles are measured in microns. A micron is a millionth of a meter. To put this onto perspective, a human hair is about 100 microns; pollen grains are about 50 microns and cigarette smoke particles about .5 microns. Bird-bloom particles are about 1-3 microns.
The antigens on bird bloom can be very persistent. I know of cases in which people who never owned a bird moved into homes where birds had been kept. The new owners then suffered from exposure to residual bird bloom in the house dust and became ill with symptoms of BFL. The bird bloom could come from old carpets or dirty duct systems.
Bird bloom can also be present in feather pillows and quilts. I have taken dust samples from hundreds of feather-filled quilts and pillows. About a third of these emitted bird- bloom particles, sometimes in very great concentrations. In some cases, the home occupants suffered symptoms of BFL. In fact, there have now been cases reported in the medical literature of this condition, and it is referred to as “duvet lung.”
I have worked with many clients who had feather-filled bedding and were experiencing asthma symptoms when they were in bed. For most of them, when they replaced their feather-filled bedding, their symptoms were alleviated.
I am not certain why some feather items emit bird bloom and others do not. The emission could be related to the cleanliness of the feathers as well as the porosity of the cloth enclosing the feathers.
If you or anyone in your family has allergies, asthma or other respiratory symptoms, I advise you to avoid using feather-filled bedding, clothing and furniture. Even if the feathers don’t emit bird-bloom particles, feather fragments in and of themselves can be irritating to inhale.
Many stores sell pillows and quilts that feel as if they are feather-filled but they are not. You can also get such products on-line. Most cushioned items have labels that list the contents.
What about your pet bird? If your bird is a beloved pet and you or someone who lives in your house has allergies or asthma, it’s a good idea to have the cage (partially) enclosed by a container with some sort of exhaust system, with air cleaned by a HEPA filter or vented to the exterior. Then the air in the cage and whatever bioaerosol it contains will be filtered before it enters the home or will be vented to the exterior. And keep the cage as clean as you can. (I had one client install such a system for a large salt-water fish tank that was aerosolizing allergens into the home.)
More research is needed on the possible, negative effects that exposures to feather can have on human health.
Refer to our books for further guidance on keeping your indoor air as contaminant free as possible; books published by The Johns Hopkins University Press and are available on amazon.com:
- My House is Killing Me! The Home Guide for Families with Allergies and Asthma
- My Office is Killing Me: The Sick Building Survival Guide
- The Mold Survival Guide: For Your Home and for Your Health
- Jeff May’s Healthy Home Tips.