Danger! Backyard Chicken Coop Deadly Fungus Threat (Histoplasmosis)

There is a confirmed Histoplasmosis outbreak in Tennessee, and many homeowners, chicken keepers, and DIYers don’t realize how easily this airborne fungal disease can be stirred up around their homes.

In this video, I explain:
• What Histoplasmosis is and why it’s dangerous
• How spores live in soil, chicken coops, crawl spaces, attics, and bat droppings
• Why disturbing soil, cleaning coops, or renovating without protection can put you at risk
• The difference between acute, chronic, and disseminated histoplasmosis
• Why symptoms are often misdiagnosed as flu or tuberculosis
• Who is most at risk and what activities increase exposure
• Practical steps homeowners and chicken owners can take right now to reduce risk

Histoplasmosis spores become airborne when soil or droppings are disturbed — meaning cleaning chicken coops, raking soil, spreading fertilizer, remodeling crawl spaces, or dealing with bats can all release invisible particles into the air you breathe.

⚠️ This disease is reportable and outbreaks require immediate public health attention.
⚠️ In severe cases, histoplasmosis can affect multiple organs and may be fatal, especially for older adults or those with weakened immune systems.

My goal with this video is education, awareness, and prevention, so you can protect your home, your family, and yourself.

🛠️ RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS FOR CHICKEN OWNERS & HOME SAFETY
(These are practical tools to help reduce risk when maintaining coops, crawl spaces, and attics)

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Large Size Automatic Chicken Coop Door
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Roosting Bars for Chickens in Coop
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Chicken Coop Expandable Mobile Chicken House
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Microbe-Lift Chicken Coop Cleaner & Deodorizer
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12-Inch 2-in-1 Chicken Poop Scooper & Rake
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Premium Laying Hen Nesting Pads
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💧 Water & Winter Prep
Large Automatic Chicken Waterer Cups
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Chicken Water Heater for Winter
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🛡️ Personal Protection & Wildlife Deterrents
Respirator Kit, Full Face, Reusable
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Bat B Gone Nesting Deterrent for Eaves & Overhangs
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📌 IMPORTANT
If you’re experiencing persistent cough, weight loss, breathing difficulty, or flu-like symptoms, especially after working around soil, coops, crawl spaces, or attics — seek medical advice immediately.

Transcript

Outbreak News And Why It Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, Michael Church with Crawl Space Ninja. Right now, there's a potentially deadly fungus spreading through Tennessee that's already infected over 35 people in just three months, and one person has already died. But here's what most people don't know this same fungus is sitting in the soil around millions of homes across the southern United States right now, and you might be breathing it in without even knowing it. If you're new to Crawlspace Ninja, we talk about everything related to crawlspace encapsulation, basement waterproofing, indoor air quality, mold remediation, and keeping your home safe from environmental hazards. So if all those things are important to you, I hope you'll subscribe to our channel and ring that notification bell. So recently, the Tennessee Department of Health has confirmed something that has a lot of homeowners in the South really concerned. Over 35 cases of histoplasmosis. That's a lung infection caused by a fungus called Histoplasma capsulatum have been confirmed in just a three-month period in the Maury and Williamson County area. Now, a family has come forward saying that one woman died after contracting this infection, with the positive test result coming back two days after her death. Now here's the thing. This is what I want you to understand. This isn't just a Tennessee problem. This fungus lives in soil all across the southern United States, particularly in areas around the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys. And if you've got a crawl space, if you've got chickens in your backyard, if you've been doing any kind of landscaping or construction work, or if you've got bats in your attic, you need to pay attention to what I'm about to share with you. The state epidemiologists are investigating, and while they haven't confirmed that this is a direct cause of any fatalities yet, they did say that some patients are critically ill and hospitalized. The average age of those infected is 50 years old. But here's what's really concerning. Most people don't even know they have it because the symptoms look just like the cold or flu. So what is histoplasmosis and what causes it? So let me break down exactly what we're dealing with here. Histoplasmosis is a lung infection. It's a respiratory illness caused by breathing in spores from this fungus called histoplasma capsulatum. Now, these aren't just any spores floating around in the air. This fungus thrives in very specific conditions. The fungus loves damp soil that's rich in organic material. And here's the key part it especially loves soil that's contaminated with bird or bat droppings. We're talking about chicken coops, pigeon roosts, old barns, caves, areas under bridges where bats live, and even your backyard if you've got a lot of bird activity. When that contaminated soil gets disturbed during activities like landscaping, gardening, construction, demolition, cleaning out old buildings, or even just raking leaves in certain areas, those fungal spores get kicked up into the air. And when you breathe them in, that's when the infection can take hold in your lungs. Now I've been in thousands of crawl spaces, and I can tell you that we see conditions all the time that would be perfect for this fungus to grow. Dark, damp crawl spaces with dirt floors. Especially if there's been any kind of animal activity, whether that's rodents, possums, or bats, those are prime conditions. And here's what most homeowners don't realize: the air in your crawl space doesn't just stay in your crawl space, it rises up into your living space through what's called the stack effect. So if you've got fungal spores in your crawl space, you could be breathing them in your bedroom. Now here's some good news and some concerning news. The good news is that most people who breathe in these spores don't get sick. Your immune system is usually strong enough to fight it off, and you might never even know you were exposed. But, and this is the big but, certain groups of people are at much higher risk than others. If you're immunocompromised, meaning your immune system is weakened, this infection can be life-threatening. We're talking about people who are undergoing chemotherapy, people with HIV or AIDS, people who have had organ transplants and are on anti-rejection medications, people taking corticosteroids like prednisone for extended periods, or people with autoimmune diseases who are on certain medications. Infants and young children under the age of two are also at high risk because their immune systems aren't fully developed yet. And here's something the Tennessee Health officials pointed out. The average age of people infected in this outbreak is around 50 years old. As we get older, our immune systems naturally become less robust, which puts older adults at increased risk as well. People with existing lung conditions like COPD, emphysema, or chronic bronchitis are also more vulnerable because their lungs are already compromised. If you fall into any of these categories and you're doing activities that might expose you to the fungus, you need to be taking extra precautions. Now, this is a question I've been getting a lot lately, especially with the rise in backyard chicken keeping. If you've got chickens, are you at risk? And the answer is yes. You absolutely can be at higher risk. But this depends on how you're managing your coop. Here's what you need to understand chicken droppings create the perfect environment for this fungus to grow. When those droppings accumulate in soil, especially in enclosed spaces like chicken coops, and then the material dries out and gets disturbed, those spores can become airborn. If you're a commercial poultry farmer, or if you keep chickens in your backyard, here are the activities that put you at a higher risk. Cleaning out the coop, especially if you're doing a deep clean when you're scraping out old bedding and droppings, spreading old chicken manure as fertilizer in your garden, demolishing or renovating an old chicken coop, or working in industry conditions around the coop without proper protection. Now, does this mean you shouldn't have chickens? Absolutely not. But it does mean you need to be smart about it. When I was in the field, we always dressed for safety, and you need to do the same thing. If you're cleaning out your chicken coop, you want to wear a respirator. And I'm not talking about a simple dusk mask. I'm talking about a proper N95, or better yet, a full face respirator. You want to wear gloves, you want to wear coveralls or clothes that you can wash immediately afterwards. When I used to come home from inspecting crawl spaces, I would take off all of my clothing right at the door and put it directly into the wash so that I did not expose my children to what I had been exposed to. And you also might want to wet down the area before you start cleaning to keep dust to a minimum. One thing I recommend to homeowners with chickens is to keep the coop well ventilated. Clean it regularly so droppings don't build up and consider using the deep litter method where you're adding fresh bedding on top rather than constantly scraping everything out. By the way, if you're using this method, please comment below how it's working for you. This is supposed to create less dust. And here's something most people don't think about. If you're composting chicken manure, let it age at least a year before you use it in your garden and wear a mask when you're handling it. Now let's talk about bats, because bat droppings, also called guano, are one of the most common sources of this fungus, and bats can get into places you might not expect. The most obvious place is caves. If you're a cave explorer or you're taking your family on a cave tour, you need to know that caves with bat populations are high-risk areas. The fungus thrives in the cool, damp environment of the caves, and bat guano can accumulate for years or even decades. But here's what concerns me more as someone who has been in thousands of attics and crawl spaces. Bats love to roost in residential structures. We're talking about attics behind shutters and wall voids, under bridges and old barns, and yes, even in crawl spaces. I can't tell you how many times we've gone into an attic and found evidence of bat activity. Droppings, urine stains, and of course that distinctive ammonia smell. If you've got bats in your attic, you've potentially got a histoplasmosis risk. And here's the problem a lot of homeowners don't even know that they have bats until they start seeing droppings or they hear scratching noises at night. Bats can squeeze through openings as small as a quarter of an inch. So even a small gap in your soffit or a crack in your foundation can be an entry point for bats and other critters. Now, if you discover you have bats, do not, and I mean do not, try to clean up the guano yourself, especially if there's a significant accumulation. This is one of those situations where you need to call in the professionals who are trained in hazardous waste removal. They'll have the proper protective equipment, which includes respirators, and they'll know how to contain and remove the material safely. The same goes for old buildings. If you're buying an old farmhouse or renovating a historic property and you find evidence of bad activity, you need to have that professionally assessed and cleaned before you start tearing into walls or disturbing the attic space. Now, here's why this outbreak in Tennessee is so concerning and why health officials are worried. The symptoms of histoplasmosis look almost identical to the cold or flu, which means it's constantly being missed or misdiagnosed. Symptoms typically show up anywhere from 3 to 17 days after you breathe in the spores. You might get a fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, a dry cough, chest pain, and extreme fatigue. Sound familiar? That's because those are the exact same symptoms you'd get with the flu or even COVID. Most doctors, if you come in with those symptoms, they're going to assume it's a viral infection. They might give you some advice about rest and fluids, maybe prescribe you some symptom relief drug or over-the-counter medicine and send you home. But if it's actually histoplasmosis and you're in one of those high-risk groups I mentioned earlier, that infection can progress to something much more serious. There's a chronic form of histoplasmosis that affects the lungs long term, and it mainly hits people with weakened immune systems or underlying lung conditions. Symptoms can include weight loss, a bloody cough, and trouble breathing. It can look a lot like tuberculosis. And then there's the most serious form, disseminated histoplasmosis. This is when the infection spreads beyond your lungs and affects other parts of your body, your liver, spleen, bone marrow, brain, spinal cord, even your mouth and skin. Without treatment, disseminated histoplasmosis is often deadly. So if you've been exposed to bird or bat droppings, if you've been cleaning out a chicken coop, if you've been working in your crawl space, if you've been doing demolition work, if you've been exploring caves, and then you develop flu-like symptoms that aren't getting better with normal treatment, you need to tell your doctor about that exposure. Healthcare providers can test for histoplasmosis through blood or urine samples, respiratory fluid tests, x-rays, CT scans, or tissue biopsies. Now here's a question a lot of people are asking. Is this just a southern problem, or can this spread to other states? The fungus that causes histoplasmosis is common in the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys, as I mentioned earlier. We're talking about states like Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, Arkansas, and parts of surrounding states. But it's also found in other parts of the United States and around the world Africa, Asia, Australia, Central and South America. Here's the thing you need to understand. This isn't like a virus that spreads from person to person. You can't catch histoplasmosis from someone who has it. The fungus lives in the soil and it's been there for a very long time. So it's not spreading in the traditional sense. It's already present in many areas. What we're seeing here in Tennessee right now is an outbreak, which means there's a cluster of cases in a specific area over a specific time period. Health officials are investigating to see if there's a common source, maybe a particular construction site, a specific building that was demolished, or even an area where the soil was disturbed, but they haven't identified a single source yet. Could we see similar outbreaks in other states? Absolutely. Anywhere the fungus is present in the soil if you get the right conditions. Soil disturbance, people with compromised immune systems being exposed, maybe some environmental factors we don't fully understand yet, you could see a cluster of cases. Before this outbreak, histoplasmosis was only a reportable disease, meaning doctors had to report cases to health authorities in 14 states. Now, with this Tennessee outbreak getting national attention, I wouldn't be surprised if more states start tracking it more closely. Now, from a crawlspace perspective, here's what I want you to know. If you've got a dirt crawl space, if you've had any kind of animal activity down there, if it's damp or there's organic material breaking down, you could potentially have conditions that support this fungus or other types of fungus in your crawlspace. This is one of the many reasons why we recommend crawl space encapsulation. When you encapsulate a crawl space properly, and I'm talking about sealing it up with heavy-duty vapor barrier, controlling moisture, sealing off the outside air, and conditioning the space, you're creating an environment where this fungus cannot thrive. You're also preventing any spores that might be present from getting into your living space. This is why we always recommend you air seal the subfloor of the crawl space as well. If you're planning to do crawlspace encapsulation yourself, make sure you're following all the safety protocols I mentioned. So let me summarize what you need to know about this histoplasmosis outbreak and how to protect yourself. Histoplasmosis is a lung infection caused by fungus that lives in the soil contaminated with bird or bat droppings. It's most common in the southern United States, particularly around Ohio, Mississippi River valleys, but it exists in other states as well. Most people who breathe in the spores don't get sick, but if you're immune compromised, very young, very old, or have existing lung problems, this can be a serious or even life-threatening infection. If you have chickens, if you're doing landscape or construction work, if you're working in crawl spaces or attics, or if you're around areas where bats or birds roost, you need to take precautions. Wear the proper respiratory protection, as I mentioned before, wet down those areas before you start working to keep the dust levels down. And if you're in a high risk group, consider hiring professionals. The symptoms look like the flu, fever, cough, fatigue, body aches. But if you've had exposure and you're not getting better, get tested. Healthcare providers can diagnose this with a blood or urine test in most cases. And remember, this doesn't spread person to person. The fungus is in the soil and it's been there for a long time. What we're seeing here in Tennessee is a cluster of cases that the health officials are investigating. But this is a risk that exists across much of the southern United States. If you're concerned about your crawl space or if you need help assessing whether you might have conditions that could support this fungus, we have resources available. Check out our DIY store, and if you need guidance, our DIY specialist can help walk you through what you need to do. Also, make sure you check out this video description where I've listed tools and products that can help you. If you found this valuable, make sure you like and subscribe and share this with anyone you know that might be at risk. Especially if they have chickens, they're doing construction or landscaping work, or they live in the affected areas. My name is Michael Church with Crawlspace Ninja, and I hope you make it a happy and blessed day, and we'll see you later.