Mold and fungi lurking in instrument blamed for death of bagpipe player

Los Angeles Times ^ | 08/23/2016 | Karen Kaplan

[BenLurkin]

Doctors diagnosed him with hypersensitivity pneumontitis, or HP, a rare disease of the lungs. HP is the result of an allergic reaction to mold, fungus, dust or other substances a patient breathes. As a result, the tiny spaces in the lungs between the air sacs, airways and blood vessels become inflamed, and breathing can be severely impaired.

Typical triggers for HP include exposure to birds or household mold caused by excessive water damage, but the patient had no history of either. Nor did he have a history of smoking. Doctors prescribed the steroid prednisolone and the immunosuppressive drug azathioprine, but they had little to no effect.

he only thing that seemed to work was a three-month sojourn in Australia. While there, the man’s symptoms improved and he said he could walk along the beach more than six miles without stopping.

Doctors later realized that the reason his breathing improved in Australia was that he had left his bagpipes in the United Kingdom.

At home, the man played his bagpipes daily, even as his breathing deteriorated and more medications were added to his drug regimen.

Eventually, the patient’s condition became so bad that he had to be hospitalized. There, doctors treated him with a cocktail of IV antibiotics and an antifungal drug.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Should have invested in some bagpipe cleaners

[Albion Wilde]

Ping!

[CGASMIA68]

I imagine the input portion( proper nomincalture ?) of a bagpipe can get pretty scummy after awhile.

[dainbramaged]

Not sure how to clean a bagpipe, but I use a bipap machine for my sleep apnea and it gets washed daily for a reason.

[snarkpup]

Should have invested in some bagpipe cleaners

Or switched to Uilleann pipes.

The bellows not only relieve the player from the effort needed to blow into a bag to maintain pressure, they also allow relatively dry air to power the reeds, reducing the adverse effects of moisture on tuning and longevity.

Not to mention reducing the adverse effects of deadly germs on the player.

[showme_the_Glory]

Exactly why I don’t play bagpipes.

[SandRat]

Surprise!

[moose07]

The Instrument of Mass Destruction... BAGPIPES PING !

[Buckeye McFrog]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbY8eNkaW4k

[wrench]

I have a horse with a similar condition. Prednisolone is all but ineffective. But dexamethasone yielded dramatic results. Both were administered along with Albuterol.

[moose07]

Great bit of playing.
:)

[BenLurkin]

[righttackle44]

Friend of mind worked in a local music store while in high school. He said that part of their service was to clean instruments. Trumpets, trombones, and other brass instruments were disgusting. They would take apart the valves, then put rinse the the instruments with a spray of hot, soapy water. He said the black stuff that came out of some of them was horrid. They would always discard the reeds and replace them, the most difficult reeds being the oboe reeds because many of the players did not like commercial reeds and carved their own.

I'm not certain how you'd clean bagpipes.

[BenLurkin]

Maybe with one of these?

[JimRed]

Should have taken up the Uilleann pipes. Safer.

[minnesota_bound]

They played bagpipes at his funeral which will kill off another bagpipe player and on and on.

[Old Yeller]

Exactly why I don’t play bagpipes.

Classical bagpipes is where it's at. Combine it with classical harmonica, and the music is awesome.

[Trillian]

Ping