RACCOON ROUNDWORM: Blinds NYC Teen In One Eye, Causes Brain Damage In Infant

NEW YORK — A rare disease transmitted through contact with raccoon feces has left a New York City teenager blind in one eye and an infant brain damaged.

The city's Department of Health warns parents to be on the alert for raccoon roundworm, which can cause nausea, nerve damage and even death. It says fewer than 30 cases have been reported in medical literature.

Health department spokeswoman Sally Slavinski says parents should supervise children to keep them from eating raccoon feces. Droppings should be picked up using gloves and disposable bags and put in the trash.

The worms lay eggs in the feces; they hatch after being ingested and travel through the body.

The teenager lost sight in one eye in January. The infant has been hospitalized since suffering seizures and spinal problems last October. They're from Brooklyn.

Comments

[johnie2xs]

Nature's revenge on mankind...­. Who coulda seen that, comin'.

[GayGrandpa]

I can see the B movies coming, ATTACK OF THE KILLER RACCOON FECES.

[cucumber]

This is honestly a very irresponsible article, in that it doesn't mention that roundworms transmitted from any source - dogs, cats, other humans - can cause the exact same damage. There's nothing special about raccoon roundworms. It puts the focus on raccoons, which is a particularly rare way for roundworms to be transmitted to humans, and will no doubt cause the needless killing of these wild animals, who should be given the respect of some space anyway. Parasites are quite literally everywhere. You could eat a piece of lettuce in a restaurant that wasn't well washed, or someone could cough on your food, and you could also end up with a parasitic infection. Life has risks. Keep your immune system strong.

[sheilaofmiami]

Several parasites can be picked up from walking barefoot in any feces. I have been around dogs and horses in great numbers, and the main rule was, keep your shoes on and wash your hands when your done.

How freeeeekkkkknnnn' hard is this?

Watch your children? Oh, as opposed to telling them to go play in traffic I guess.

[piul05]

I agree; I've known a young bloke who went blind in one eye from contact with a dog that hadn't been wormed; it was the first case ever in his region but the doctors thought that his general poor and insalubrious standard of living was behind this rare outcome.

[cucumber]

And he could have and may well have passed them on to someone else. Humans can get them from each other too. Most of the time our bodies deal with infection without too much issue - sometimes people are less fortunate. But parasitic infection is not some exotic thing, despite the fact that we *think* of it as some third world issue..

[bibimimi]

"parents should supervise children to keep them from eating raccoon feces"

Yeah, at a bare minimum. l didn't know that was a problem.

[noudidnt]

How did the teenager get it again?????????????

[Aj Sol]

I can't believe people actually need to be told not to let their children eat raccoon turds.

[madisonhack]

Check this out for a ROFLMAO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DfGf4M3QZo

[trunk65]

The raccoon flu scare is coming. Republicans will blame Al Sharpton.

[BassMent]

"...fewer than 30 cases [of raccoon roundworm] have been reported in medical literature­."

Wow. So in the ENTIRE RECORDED HISTORY of medicine, transmission of roundworms from raccoons to humans has been observed fewer than 30 times? Hardly seems to warrant the annihilation of species or burning of habitat being suggested in some of these comments.

I wonder how many times in that same period of history kids have been maimed or killed in car accidents because their bonehead parents didn't have them secured properly?

Maybe we should destroy all of the parents and burn all of the cars.

[AuntiepoppyCock]

That is terrible. It's almost impossible to allow your children outside without surrounding them in a bubble. I spent my summers in the country and I have never heard of this.


If it isn't the water it's the darn raccoons.

[sheilaofmiami]

RELAX MAX!!!! This is way over blown and if you have raised your kids to eat food and not dirt, you have no worries. I had all kinds of poops in my yard when they were small, deer, dog, cat, racoon, bird, goose in specific as well as many other birds.

No one ever tasted any. They are not great at picking it up with the pooper scooper either, but then I had boys, so I get what I get.

[Aesthete]

My father had friends who hunted raccoons and I, as a child, used to help my dad skin the critters. We actually cooked or barbequed and ate those things!

[American50]

How could anyone not like this?
http://lodging4vacations.com/mammoth-condo-rentals/1-christmas-racoons-hot-tubbing.jpg

[madisonhack]

Because of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DfGf4M3QZo

[jham710]

Still cute.

http://www.thehamandlegsshow.com

[mikebythesun]

I think the bigger question is this: THERE ARE RACOONS IN BROOKLYN?!?!?!

[NYC07]

There are a lot of different species of bird and animals that live in NYC. NYC is not just what you see on TV. It has some of the largest parks, beaches and wet lands for any city in the US. If you think that NYC is just skyscrapers and Wall Street you are wrong.

[madisonhack]

Coyotes, too.

[smilodon1]

Interestingly, England doesn't have raccoons but they have foxes. Foxes are all over London at night same as raccoons are here in the US.

[STG 44]

Due to the lack of raccoons in England foxes must perforce perform in their place. Tasks such as arranging garbage about the driveway, eliminated farmer's excess chicken population, entertaining fenced in dogs, etc. are the responsibility of foxes over there. There is no occurrence of rabies in England either, so foxes are somewhat more popular for them than for us in U.S.A.

[Hansyp]

Yes there are. I used to live in Brooklyn and I used to see racoons at night around my house.

[sophieozz]

You bet. We have all sorts of wildlife, including wild parrots. Recently a skunk sprayed in my backyard and it wafted up in a mighty fashion.

[Pema]

a racoon was washing its paws in the pool the other night...an­yone now if you can get ringworm there? we dont use chorline, we use organic chemicals. i hope any ringworms got killed. anyone know about this?

[aweissnet]

Well, it's roundworm, and it's apparently intestinal. Possible that the raccoon had some fecal matter on the paws.

Don't know what you use in your pool, but silver/copper is also anti-parasitic. I think, particularly copper is used for algae control, but it also kills parasites. I believe salt is also anti-parasitic.

Both copper and salt, for example, are used in aquaria, to kill some parasitic infections.

I would think it's not an issue ...

[American50]

It will not effect your pool.
unless it get their droppings into it and they dissolve

[Pema]

aweissnet and American 50 thank you very much for your replies...­.ill check with my pool guy today. poor lil racoons! its bad when a racoon is forced one block formt he beach, but we have had hawks too, never saw a hawk at the beach before. population growth arg!

[Yves Papa]

affect

[jrmarsh]

Don't want to alarm you but "I've heard" that the only way to be safe is to burn the area they use to do their business. My daughter's playmate was incapacitated to a vegetable state at age 2 by coming into contact with raccoon feces. Given the risk, I wouldn't even trust chlorine to do the job.

[cucumber]

this is ridiculous. There are parasites everywhere. Your dog and cat probably have them, as do you. Coming from a raccoon is no more dangerous than coming from another animal. Cat/dog roundworms can occasionally do this too, if someone's immune system isn't up to snuff. Someone who has a parasitic infestation can cough near your food and it's the same story. This article is scaring people into fearing one animal when their entire environment contains parasites.

[madisonhack]

I use chlorine in my pool...kil­ls everything.

[berrycooda]

What next...

Should we blame the Bush Administration or

PETA for not protecting us from the animals...­..

need a sign....pl­ease don't eat the raccoons or the feces...

[American50]

No they will never stop blaming Bush.
even though Obama hasnt done any better.

[winnie47]

Oh get REAL! In eight years, Dubya allowed a terrorist attack to happen on American soil rather than take advice from the previous administration, he declared an illegal war, never finished the legal one, nearly destroyed the military by spreading them so thin, set the country back 20 years in science and technological research, decimated the school system with "No Child Left Behind But THe Money IS left Behind", ran up a $1.3 trillion deficit, most of which was due to giving his rich buddies tax breaks, dismantled FEMA, tried to dismantle the Constitution, committed war crimes, doubled the amount industry could pollute the air, water and soil, ignored global warming to the point that Antarctica could be ice-free in the summer of 2013, and brought down an entire world economy. President Obama has been in office three MONTHS and you're complaining he isn't doing BETTER? He's already started to turn the economy around, but he'd need another 20 YEARS in office to clean up the pile of $#!% Dubya left behind!

[rini]

Don't you think it's a little premature to judge Obama?

[AuntiepoppyCock]

How self centered to turn a American tragedy, GEORGE BUSH into a sounding board about CHILDREN who lost their eye sight and consciousness and you wonder why? I have a neighbor who was a Republican in his mothers womb, he ran away with the Krishna's in shame

[American50]

why are your children eating racoon poo?

[AngieMom57]

Everything goes into the mouth with small children, as diligent as parents are it's a challenge for sure; raccoons are everywhere I'm going to Google what raccoon poo looks like, never thought about it...

[delagirl]

Yeah, but what about the teenager?

[demona]

this is nothing more that roundworm infection, and dogs and cats both can carry the worms. raccoons aren't alone. you don't have to put the poop in your mouth to get the parasites. the eggs are shed in the areas where the animals defecate, and stay viable for a long time. sunlight is effective in destroying the eggs, so shady sandboxes are more likely to infect children. the only treatment is prevention­--hand-was­hing after playing and regular worming of pets while young.