Is the use of bat guano fertilizer safe for humans?

[proninyaroslav]

I mean the use of guano, which was collected not by some big certified company, but by individuals. There is no major producer of guano in my country, and buying foreign is quite expensive, but there are people who collect in the caves and sell it. I'm a bit wary of this due to the emergence of COVID, I've also read that bats carry rabies disease.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I would not be worried about viruses that much, because those don't stay viable for long in such an environment.. But the bacteria and fungi in guano can be seriously risky to human health. Because some guano heaps are so old, there is potentially a lot of antibiotic resistance in those micro organisms. Better not get an infection.

If you are planning on using it, wear gloves and a good face mask. Pasturisation and such can be performed but that would probably mean you will have to do it in a kitchen and you really don't want poop in your kitchen.
Or a big old kettle on a wood fire outdoors, and drying it after but that would lose a lot of nitrogen.

Chicken or cow poop, or goat or sheep are safer.
Whatever you use, if it produces any kind of dust.. Wear a mask, and a good one too. Gloves are a good protection, as is hand washing afterwards.
Never ever handle animal waste if you have open wounds. If a glove tears or whatever, it will get in there. 99.999% of the times that's no problem at all. But the 0.001% of the times, it can make you really sick.

 

[leatherback]

I mean the use of guano, which was collected not by some big certified company, but by individuals. There is no major producer of guano in my country, and buying foreign is quite expensive, but there are people who collect in the caves and sell it. I'm a bit wary of this due to the emergence of COVID, I've also read that bats carry rabies disease.

I would not use it on humans. Better get pasta and cheese

 

[rockm]

I mean the use of guano, which was collected not by some big certified company, but by individuals. There is no major producer of guano in my country, and buying foreign is quite expensive, but there are people who collect in the caves and sell it. I'm a bit wary of this due to the emergence of COVID, I've also read that bats carry rabies disease.

There's a health risk and bat shit is just plain nasty (I've had to clean it off of my house and porch one summer when a dozen bats took refuge behind house shutters...) Look up "histoplamosis" or "nipah"

HEALTH HAZARDS ASSOCIATED WITH BIRD AND BAT DROPPINGS

International Notes Cave-Associated Histoplasmosis -- Costa Rica

Exposure to Bat Droppings Among Tourists Visiting Caves in the Brazilian Amazon: A Risk for Disease Transmission - PMC

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Also, untreated or uncomposted guano is usually waaaaay too high in Nitrogen for much of anything else except crop fertilization. High N will push strong new growth, which can mostly cancel out what you're trying to accomplish with bonsai.

 

[AJL]

Could also send you Bat S...t crazy!