If an activity generates an aerosol (airborne particulates), that's a sign to back off or wear respiratory protection. In the case of fungi, if the spore burden that's inhaled is large enough, even people with healthy lungs and normal immune systems can get sick. The N95 masks available at the big box stores provide protection against particulates over 0.3 microns (including fungal spores) but not gases/chemicals. They are also less effective if they don't fit properly, especially for people with beards.

I met an old gardener once who caught some sort of skin problem while digging out a hedgerow. It was years ago so I've forgotten the details but it stuck with me since I'm always outside playing in the dirt. The spots at his elbows of both arms got very inflamed and swollen. He basically couldn't use his arms for weeks. The doctors told him that this sort of infection was more common in Great Britain and most often associated with rose bushes. They said something about how a fungus living in the soil gets under your skin and wreeks havoc.

If it's not one thing - its another!

TJ, they call it 'rose-picker's disease's, aka sporotrichosis, caused by the fungus Sporothrix schenkii. I know, more than anybody wanted to know, but I find them fascinating. The most frequent garden-related health problem in my family is malnutrition, which is a direct consequence of how many nights in a row my kids make themselves Ramen for supper because I wouldn't come in the house until after sunset.

What seems new to us might be old hazards brought to the fore by this wonderful thing we know as the internet.

This is the same fungus that caused our second bird's death. The doc said he'd most likely had it since he was a chick, long before we bought him, and his species is particularly vulnerable to it. The odd thing is it wasn't in his respiratory system, but rather in the body cavity itself. Must have been introcuced through a puncture or something- they don't know. It's one of the few diseases that affect people & other animals too. A friend of mine told of someone else she knew that got very sick and almost died from an aspergillosis infection, and it was from compost that had her bird's droppings incorporated. I'm not saying it's spread by birds or anything like that, it was just a cooincidence. Litter that's used on cage floors can be perfect areas for it to breed, just like it would be for other small animals cages and in fact, compost. It's endemic, and we're all exposed, but when there's too much it can overwhelm a person or animal. So be careful out there! I don't like breathing in any kind of dust- as an asthmatic, it all gets me going.

John, wonder if what that gardener had was a precursor to the MSRA infections. It's just a type of staph, and it's found all over the place. Maybe not if it was fungal, though, since staph's bacterial.

karen - thanks for the facts! I think your comment about malnutrition in your children is one of the funniest things I've ever read on GW. I would share with my co-workers but since they are never go outside to play they wouldn't get it. Maybe its time to plant some veggies in the flowerbeds and let them forage while you weed. just a thought.

Thanks for all the good information, very interesting. Karen that was too funny! Don't worry though my kids survived it and made it into adulthood just fine. Poor DH still lives with it from time to time.

This year I'm more focused on the edibles so that helps. :) My peppers are looking good that I planted in my flower beds, so are the toms! I'm making the flowers tough it out more this year and I'm hopeful that the drought will break early this fall!

Karen somehow i missed that post- too stinkin' funny! My kids would prolly starve if it wasn't for the fact that hubby cooks mostly. I like the foraging comment, too. My kids like to forage on oxalis & strawberries & blueberries & blackberries... it's a wonder we ever have any to bring in! They don't mess with the veggies as much except maybe cherry tomatoes. Thanks for helping us all with the facts.

I've considered letting them forage but there's a lot of competition in the form of other wildlife. I do send them out to find their own dessert when the strawberries and blackberries are ripe, but I have to hide the cherry tomatoes from my eldest or she'll strip them almost as bad as the deer.

Sounds like my crew! LOL They're dear 'deer'.

Too funny. Kids should learn to feed themselves. You're training them for life.

That's interesting. I did get myself a mask to wear at work when needed. When the covers were on the greenhouses and I would work with the tropicals, I'd see that appearance of smoke, and worried about my lungs. Didn't buy a mask until actual smoke from a burn pile was giving me headaches.