kids, this is why we don't snort puffball spores

[Anodyne]

...erm, just in case anyone was planning to do this for some reason?

Lycoperdonosis

Lycoperdonosis is a respiratory disease caused by the inhalation of large quantities of spores from mature puffballs.

It is classified as a hypersensitivity pneumonitis (also called extrinsic allergic alveolitis)—an inflammation of the alveoli within the lung caused by hypersensitivity to inhaled organic dusts.Typical progression of the disease includes symptoms of a cold hours after spore inhalation, followed by nausea, rapid pulse, crepitant rales (a sound like that made by rubbing hairs between the fingers, heard at the end of inhalation), and dyspnea. Chest radiographs reveal the presence of nodules in the lungs.

In one severe case, the individual inhaled enough spores so as to be able to blow them out of his mouth. He underwent bronchoscopy and then had to be on life support before recovering in about four weeks. In another instance, a teenager spent 18 days in a coma, had portions of his lung removed, and suffered severe liver damage. In Wisconsin, eight teenagers who inhaled spores at a party presented clinical symptoms such as cough, fever, shortness of breath, myalgia, and fatigue within a week. Five of the eight required hospitalization; of these, two required intubation to assist in breathing.

In hopefully-more-relevant news, dogs may also develop this disease after digging up puffbally ground:

Both dogs presented in respiratory distress, and owners reported that the dogs had been playing or digging in areas with puffball mushrooms prior to the onset of clinical signs.

Despite aggressive medical treatment and mechanical ventilation, the dog continued to worsen and was euthanized.

Throughout the lung and lymph nodes, most commonly within macrophages, were round, 3-5 µm in diameter, Gomori methenamine silver-positive structures, consistent with Lycoperdon spores. An approximately 750-base pair DNA fragment was amplified from lung of both cases by polymerase chain reaction using primers specific to yeast ribosomal DNA, and the sequence of the fragment was determined to be most closely related to Lycoperdon pyriforme.

[waterboy 2.0]

In Wisconsin, eight teenagers who inhaled spores at a party.....

like where does anyone think this is a good idea - snorting spores...WTF....was there a jenkum shortage?

Seriously good to see this go up Anodyne, had never heard of Lycoperdonosis before.

[coolname]

My dad got really sick years ago from breathing in some sort of mold spores. We got an old caravan that had been sitting in the rainforest for years and decided to fix it up. It has some wild looking mould or fungus growing all over the inside of it. It was pretty much the same colour as glow in the dark stickers when they arent glowing. Anyway I saw it and said we should use respirators in there, but he thought I was an idiot for suggesting that. To cut a long story short, I used one and he disnt and he got very sick. He saw alot of doctors and none of them could work out what was wrong with his lungs. Eventually he saw some specialist who asked him if he had been exploring in any caves lately. Thats when he put two and two together and realised it was from the mould spores that I had warned him about. It took months for him to get better. Im pretty sure the doctor just gave him a bunch of strong anti biotics for it. Sorry about the bad spelling and punctuation but im typing this on my phone and its a real bitch to edit my post

[waterboy 2.0]

^ Histoplasmosis would be the angle they were looking at I reckon....yep can contract from warmer Aus caves....bat rookeries increase the potential to contract as the fungus loves the guano.

Theres some fungus that can just really f**k ya.

[coolname]

Yeah he was in a pretty bad way for a while. I still like to stir him up about his lung fungus sometimes when he doesnt take my advice

[Sulik114]

Good post, very handy to know in case you ever come across a heap of mold or spores in renovations or gardening etc.

Always wear a mask would be a safer option in these situations.

[Pie'oh'Pah]

Just the other week there was a woman who died from legionnaires' disease from potting mix

Edited March 9, 2014 by Pie'oh'Pah

[Distracted]

This is really confusing.

"Doing dumb shit is really dumb" could be another title of the thread.

[Anodyne]

To paraphrase Broken Arrow: "I don't know what's scarier, death from inhaling puffball spores, or the fact that this happens so often that we actually have a name for it"

I was more worried about the dogs, really. And I guess if dogs can stir up a cloud of spores big enough to be harmful just from digging around in the dirt, then kids probably can too. I found one of these giant puffballs they're talking about (I stumbled across "lycoperdonosis" while trying to ID it) - as you can see, it's just like a big bag of spores at this stage. The shot is a little out of focus, but some of that blurriness is actually a haze caused by the spores floating off - if you squeeze it a big cloud puffs out. And apparently this is quite a small one, they get a LOT bigger than this.

[waterboy 2.0]

I use to play with them as a kid.....just prodding it a little at a time to get a spray of spore.....

I don't think I am that different....lol....so yeah other young kids could be as curious.

Be buggered if I ever thought of snorting them....

EDIT - but then I also played with every dangerous and venomous animal I could get into my hands....lol

Edited March 9, 2014 by waterboy

[Anodyne]

Here you can get a better idea of how ridiculously many spores these things have (a few trillion, apparently) and how easily you could cop a lungful by falling onto one, or something. At least he wears a mask

 

 

Edited March 9, 2014 by Anodyne