Is bat feces dangerous to touch or breathe?

The Problem with Bats

When bats enter your home, they make a massive mess. These animals leave their droppings all over the place, leading to pungent smells throughout the house along with some disgusting stains. Bat guano is also known to eat away at surfaces, which leads to structural damage that can collapse your entire home.

But are these all the problems bat guano causes, or are there more reasons to avoid the stuff?

Bat Guano and Disease

Histoplasmosis

What many don't realize is that bat guano is the source of a deadly disease called histoplasmosis. This is a fungus that mostly grows on bat or bird droppings, and it's a dangerous disease.

Sometimes, histoplasmosis doesn't cause any damage. In fact, a lot of people who contract the disease experience little to no symptoms. Yet at other times, the disease can cause a lot of problematic symptoms, such as the following:

• Fevers and chills.
  
  
• Both headaches and muscle aches.
  
  
• Dry coughs.
  
  
• Discomfort in the chest.
  
  

This disease mostly targets the lungs, which is why people who already suffer from lung diseases are particularly vulnerable. These people experience some of the worst effects of histoplasmosis, where they start having bloody coughs, a loss of appetite, and other symptoms of tuberculosis.

Yet the worst instances of histoplasmosis are when the individual already has a compromised or weak immune system. This means the body can't fight off the fungus, so the disease is able to spread to more than just the lungs. It'll affect everything from the mouth to important organs like the liver and even the central nervous system (your brain and spine).

That's why you should seek immediate medical attention if you start experiencing any of these symptoms. Otherwise, you run the risk of permanent damage or even death.

Spread of Bat Guano

Now that you know how dangerous histoplasmosis is, you'll no doubt avoid it. The problem is that this fungus spreads around easily.

That's because bat guano quickly dries up and turns to dust, carrying the diseases with it. So even if you avoid touching bat guano, you can still contract histoplasmosis by being in the same room and breathing it in.

That means you should not touch or breathe in bat guano, or you risk catching a deadly disease.

Removing Bat Droppings

Because bat droppings are so dangerous, you should act quickly to remove them. It's important to take the right precautions to make this as safe as possible.

Step 1: Use Protective Equipment

Before you start cleaning, you need to protect yourself from diseases. You should wear an air filtration mask to prevent yourself from inhaling the particles in the air. You should also put on gloves so you don't touch any guano yourself.

Some people also wear protective clothing to stop the dust-like guano from sticking to their clothes. You can even spray the area with water before you start working, in order to keep dust particles down.

Step 2: Remove the Guano

Your next step is to remove all the guano in the attic. This is a dangerous task, but it's essential. You should use a vacuum or some other specialized device to remove all the droppings. Make sure you don't miss anything.

Step 3: Disinfect the Area

Once the guano is gone, it's time to disinfect the area to get rid of the germs that are too small to be seen. It's recommended you use an enzymatic cleaner for this, as it'll eat away hair and droppings that are too small to be seen.

If you don't have an enzymatic cleaner available, you should use your strongest cleaning agent.

Professional Help

If you don't have the time or you don't feel up to the task of removing guano, you should call a professional. These experts can help with all the steps, from removing the animal to cleaning up the waste afterward.

These experts also already have all the best gear for the job, so they'll deliver better results.