Doctors warn of danger of 'feather duvet lung'

As winter approaches it might be tempting to curl up under a thick feather duvet, but experts have warned it might lead to more than just warm toes. Doctors have reported a case of “feather duvet lung” – a lung inflammation caused by breathing in dust from the feathers in bedding – and have called for medical professionals to be on the alert if patients turn up with unexplained breathlessness.
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The condition, they say, is a rare subgroup of “bird fancier’s lung” – itself a form of hypersensitivity pneumonitis – which is caused by exposure to feathers and droppings. Other forms of hypersensitivity pneumonitis include “farmer’s lung” , “bagpiper’s lung”, “paprika slicer’s lung” and even “mummy-handler’s lung”, reflecting the wide range of activities that have been linked to breathing in substances that can cause serious lung inflammation.

“There are several hundred different types of hypersensitivity pneumonitis,” said Dempsey. “For medical professionals it is really important to be nosy and take a meticulous history and ask people about exposures because there are lots of things people do that we don’t always appreciate when we are sitting in a clinic or surgery.”