Bird Fancier's lung: An underdiagnosed etiology of dyspnea

Abigayle Sullivan; Pragya Shrestha; Theresa Lanham; Erik Lanham; Murad Baba

doi:10.1016/j.rmcr.2020.101288

Bird Fancier's lung: An underdiagnosed etiology of dyspnea

Respir Med Case Rep. 2020 Nov 19:31:101288. doi: 10.1016/j.rmcr.2020.101288. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Abigayle Sullivan¹, Pragya Shrestha^{1

2}, Theresa Lanham¹, Erik Lanham³, Murad Baba¹

Affiliations

¹ Internal Medicine Department, Reading Hospital-Tower Health System, West Reading, PA, USA.
² Precision Population Science Lab, Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
³ Jefferson Health, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Abstract

Bird Fancier's Lung is a type of hypersensitivity pneumonitis, an immunologically mediated lung disease due to repetitive exposure of air-borne avian antigen. This was first described in 1965 and is known as one of the most common causes of hypersensitivity pneumonitis. This case highlights this underdiagnosed etiology of dyspnea, disease presentation and exposure variability, and methods of diagnosis.

Keywords: Avian exposure; Bird Fancier's lung; Hypersensitivity pneumonitis; Immunologically; Mediated lung disease.

Publication types

Case Reports