living with a parrot 28 years is a cause of retinal scar

[nurcou]

Is there any truth to that fact that living with a parrot (a blue-fronted amazon)  could have caused the scar on my retina of the right eye -they say is 3 or 4 dioptimers away from the macula-just experiencing a few floaters every now and then and will clean cage with gloves from now on -anyway is there anything else to be concerned about -or should I even get rid of the parrot because I live in a small apartment thanks

[ktez]

I'm not sure if it is found in parrots, but there is an organism that can grow in bird droppings which can cause a disease called histoplasmosis. It is a mild lung infection which may not even be noticed at the time, but later in life it can cause eye hemorrhages and retinal scarring. My mom had this as a young adult and in her 50's experienced hemorrhages in both eyes which caused retinal scars. She got it from visiting a family member who had a lot of pigeons in their barn. It is not a very common thing though, I would Google histoplasmosis to find out more about it.

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

What kind of infection do you have?  You can get the parrot checked (or its stool) for the type of infection. Ask you doctor if it makes any difference at this time to get rid of your parrot.  

Dr. O.