Church Volunteers Stricken With Lung Ailment

This group of notable volunteers went to El Salvador on a recent missions trip and were building ne facilities for people in El Salvador. They picked up a air born fungus that is usually left by bat droppings. It is always good in any situation or country to protect ones self from possible infections. So if you go to volunteer in any country even the US make sure to take care the proper protections so you don’t get hurt or sick.. an article with good advice though I would share.

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Twenty Americans who traveled to El Salvador earlier this year to rebuild a church returned with serious cases of histoplasmosis, a lung disease caused by an airborne fungus, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported.

More than half of the 33 church volunteers from Pennsylvania and Virginia got sick, including six who had to be hospitalized, according to the current issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The volunteers traveled in separate groups but worked at the same church last January and February.

“They were a healthy group, so this was a bit surprising,” said Dr. Katie Kurkjian, an epidemic intelligence services officer with the Virginia Department of Health who wrote the report. “That suggests there was a high level of exposure.”

The fungus that causes histoplasmosis grows in soil contaminated with bird or bat droppings. The spores become airborne when the soil is disturbed.

The volunteers may have kicked up the spores as they cleaned indoor and outdoor renovation sites, built rooms, installed plumbing and electricity and excavated a septic tank.

“People who are working in these types of environments should wear personal protective equipment like respirators and disposable booties over their shoes,” Dr. Kurkjian said, adding they may want to spray soil gently with water to reduce dust if they’re doing any digging.

Histoplasmosis is endemic in the Midwestern United States, Mexico, Central and South America, parts of eastern and southern Europe, parts of Africa, and in eastern Asia and Australia.