# Can I get a disease from pigeons?



## Vladdus (Sep 10, 2010)

Hey, I'm new here. So I live at the city and I love to feed pigeons from my hand everyday. Also, I stay pretty close to them... My question is, can I get a disease from them? I wash my hands everytime after I feed them and I also use a desinfectant. 

I don't know if I'm being paranoic but I also saw a site with possible diseases you can get from them. By the way, when I feed them I don't touch my eyes, mouth or something else.

Please let me know, thanks!


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Diseases that can be transferred from animals to humans are referred to as "zoonotic" and are rare. You have probably caught a few illnesses from your fellow humans already, and will most probably catch many more from them during your lifetime. You would be extremely unlucky if you caught a disease from *any* animal.

Here are some authoritative quotes about pigeons and disease which show that the real experts in the field all agree that there is no significant health risk to human beings from contact with pigeons:

The British Government Chief Veterinary Officer, when addressing the House of Lords in 2000 on the issue of pigeons in Trafalgar Square was asked if the large number of pigeons in the Square represented a health risk to human beings. The Chief Veterinary Officer told The House that in his opinion they did not represent a risk to human health.

Mike Everett, spokesman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said, in The Big Issue Magazine, February 2001: "The whole 'rats with wings' thing is just emotive nonsense. There is no evidence to show that they (pigeons) spread disease.”

Charlotte Donnelly, an American bird control expert told the Cincinnati Environment Advisory Council in her report to them: "The truth is that the vast majority of people are at little or no health risk from pigeons and probably have a greater chance of being struck by lightning than contracting a serious disease from pigeons."

David A Palmer (B.V.Sc., M.R.C.V.S) said in an article entitled 'Pigeon Lung Disease Fatality and Health Risk from Ferals': "Obviously, since all these Allergic Extrinsic Alveolitis disease syndromes rely on the involved person having a very specific allergy before any disease, involving respiratory distress and very unusually death, can possibly be seen, it really makes absolute nonsense for a popular daily newspaper to suggest that pigeons present a health hazard and presumably need eliminating for the well-being of the nation’s health.”

David Taylor BVMS FRCVS FZS: “In 50 years professional work as a veterinary surgeon I cannot recall one case of a zoonosis in a human that was related to pigeons. On the other hand I know of, and have seen, examples of human disease related to contact with dogs, cats, cattle, monkeys, sheep, camels, budgies, parrots, cockatoos, aquarium fish and even dolphins, on many
occasions.”

Guy Merchant, Director of The Pigeon Control Advisory Service (PICAS) says, when talking about the transmission of disease by pigeons: "If we believed everything we read in the media about pigeons and the farcical propaganda distributed by the pest control industry we would ever leave our homes. The fact of the matter is that there is probably a greater risk to human health from contact with domestic pets such as cats, dogs and caged birds."

In response to questions about the effects of pigeons on human health, in 1986 the Association of Pigeon Veterinarians issued a statement that concludes, "…to our knowledge, the raising, keeping, and the exercising of pigeons and doves represents no more of a health hazard than the keeping of other communal or domestic pets."


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

Vladdus said:


> Hey, I'm new here. So I live at the city and I love to feed pigeons from my hand everyday. Also, I stay pretty close to them... My question is, can I get a disease from them? I wash my hands everytime after I feed them and I also use a desinfectant.
> 
> I don't know if I'm being paranoic but I also saw a site with possible diseases you can get from them. By the way, when I feed them I don't touch my eyes, mouth or something else.
> 
> Please let me know, thanks!


I would like to know what dieseases where listed?


If it was easy to get diesease from pigeons I would be dead by now...lol..


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## Vladdus (Sep 10, 2010)

Oh, thanks for letting me know Feefo, I was worried a little.

@spirit_wings, here's the site http://www.petplace.com/birds/can-your-bird-make-you-sick/page1.aspx


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