'Bagpipe Pneumonia' Almost Kills British Man

While some might jokingly claim the sound it emits alone could be lethal, a English bagpiper says he nearly died from "bagpipe pneumonia" due to a fungus found inside his instrument.

NBCNews reports Wiltshire resident John Shone became ill last fall with a drug-resistant illness and lost 14 pounds during a four-week stay in hospital. It turns out Shone was diagnosed with fungal pneumonia after spores were discovered in the pipes section of his bagpipes.

"Failing to clean my pipes led to me becoming critically ill," Shone told Scottish magazine the Piping Times, adding he hadn't cleaned it for 18 months because it sounded great and with an upcoming show he didn't want to tweak it and ruin the bagpipes' sound. Doctors tested the bagpipes and its synthetic bag and discovered several fungi, including the deadly fungus which infected Shone's lungs. The fungus, bacteria and mold found in saliva is what finds its way into the synthetic bag, causing the potential toxic stew.

Shone -- who practiced daily before the illness -- recovered, but it's not the first time a bagpiper was stricken with fungus. A 1978 article in medical journal the Lancet also cited past fungal infections sourced from bagpiper's bagpipes.

Considering this exceptional risk, perhaps bagpipes should be banned forever.