Our new website is on its way
You've found the right place. This is the home of the British Pigeon Fanciers Medical Research (BPFMR) team, who have studied Pigeon Fanciers' Lung for more than 40 years.
We're rebuilding the site so that our advice, articles and research are easier to find. While we finish, the full site is offline. It will be back soon with updated information.
If you need us in the meantime, email mark.spears@nhs.scot.
Who we are
Pigeon Lung is probably the allergy pigeon fanciers experience most, and it has led many of them to give up their birds. Some simple precautions let most fanciers carry on with their hobby and keep their symptoms down.
For decades we've worked on behalf of pigeon fanciers across the country. We give advice, offer a free blood test for sensitivity to pigeon protein, and turn what we learn into medical research that is published worldwide.
Our history
- The beginning Two Scottish doctors started the research: Dr Phil Lynch, a GP and respected pigeon fancier, and Dr Gavin Boyd, a consultant in respiratory diseases. They identified pigeon lung and saw how important it was.
- A world-standard blood test The programme developed a blood test for pigeon lung that is now the gold standard around the world.
- Every year at Blackpool The team has kept in touch with the fancy every year at the Blackpool "show of shows" in the Winter Gardens. There they give advice and blood tests to as many as 400 fanciers at a time. With their advice on masks and dust coats, fewer fanciers have symptoms than in the past.
- Research that reaches beyond the loft What fanciers' support has taught us about pigeon lung has added to the understanding of hypersensitivity pneumonitis, severe asthma, pulmonary fibrosis, arthritis-related lung disease and COVID-19.
- The BPF GILD Study, 2019 onwards Our current study brings together respiratory physicians, immunologists and geneticists from across the UK.
In the meantime
If you keep pigeons and don't wear any protection, our advice is clear: get a good mask now. Noticing symptoms and acting early is how many fanciers have stayed in the sport.
Pigeon lung often feels like flu after time in the loft: feverish, coughing, tired or short of breath. If that keeps happening, speak to your GP and mention that you keep pigeons.
Contact us
For questions about pigeon lung, your blood test result, sending a sample or supporting the research, email Dr Mark Spears, our Chief Investigator: mark.spears@nhs.scot