By Jessica Schladebeck | Daily News of New York
FILE: On March 22, 2019, a medical marijuana business in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, displays a marijuana plant. (Julio Cortez, File/AP Photo)AP
New York After using bat feces to fertilize their marijuana plants, two men from New York died from a severe fungal infection.
According to a case that was reported in the journal Open Forum Infectious Diseases, the two men from Rochester were growing cannabis for their own personal use when their health began to decline.
One of them, a 59-year-old man with a history of emphysema and extensive marijuana and tobacco use, was admitted to the hospital after experiencing significant weight loss over around six weeks. When he was taken to Strong Memorial Hospital, he also had a painful throat that was making swallowing harder and harder.
After scans revealed a lump on his larynx, doctors first suspected cancer; however, a biopsy sample later revealed a histoplasmosis infection.
In the meantime, the 64-year-old man was admitted to the hospital due to hypo-osmolar hyponatremia, a disorder characterized by abnormally low blood salt levels, severe weight loss, and trouble eating. In addition to his lengthy history of marijuana and tobacco usage, he had previously had a bypass surgery to improve blood flow to his legs.
Ultimately, medical professionals concluded that he was also afflicted with histoplasmosis, a form of pneumonia brought on by inhaling histoplasmosis capsulatum spores.
He told doctors there was a heavy bat infestation of his attic, which, as a result, was covered in bat feces, or guano. He explained his strategy to the 59-year-old, who bought his own guano online, and stated he chose to utilize the waste to fertilize his marijuana.
The men most likely contracted pneumonia as a result of breathing in toxic fungal spores generated by the guano during the fertilization process.
The 59-year-old was treated with anti-fungal, but after two weeks, he continued to have extreme difficulty breathing and he ultimately transitioned to comfort care and died, according to the report.
After receiving therapy, his friend was discharged from the hospital; however, he returned a month later and passed away soon after.
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