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Two men from upstate New York have passed away from ingesting toxic fumes after fertilizing their homegrown marijuana crops with bat feces.
According to the Open Forum Infectious Diseases Journal, the men, a 64-year-old and 59-year-old from Rochester, NY, were pronounced dead after being diagnosed with histoplasmosis infections, a form of pneumonia from breathing in harmful fungal spores.
A histoplasmosis infection is caused by the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum, which is found in soil rich with bird or bat droppings.
The cited case says that the 64-year-old man decided to use guana, otherwise known as bat feces, collected from a bat infestation in his attic, to fertilize his homegrown marijuana plants.
The unnamed man would tell his friend, the 59-year-old, about his usage of the guana in fertilzing his crop, prompting the 59-year-old, also unnamed, to purchase his own guana online and follow suit.
Unfortunately, both men would soon begin to suffer a dramatic amount of weight loss and have trouble eating and breathing.
The 59-year-old man was admitted to Strong Memorial Hospital, where he was initially believed to have carcinoma due to a mass on his larynx. However, a biospy would determine that he had sustained a histoplasmosis infection, for which he received treatment, but ultimately died as a result of weeks later.
The 64-year-old man was admitted to the hospital after experiencing similar conditions and was diagnosed with hypo-osmolar hyponatremia — a condition in which sodium levels in the blood are abnormally low.
He would be treated with anti-fungal medication and be released from the hospital, but would return a month later due to his conditioning worsening and would also pass away shortly after.
English (US) ·