With their cute masks and long tails, raccoons might look like nice animals to live with. This animal can bring a secret health risk that not many people know about, though: raccoon roundworm. If raccoons nest in your attic or another safe place, they can bring this parasite into your home, which could be very bad for your health and the health of your family.
Learning About the Raccoon Roundworm (Baylisascaris procyonis)
The Baylisascaris procyonis raccoon roundworm is a parasitic nematode (roundworm) that mostly affects raccoons. The bowels of raccoons are home to these parasites, which lay millions of tiny eggs that the raccoons expel through its poop.
When these sick rats decide to live in your attic, that’s when things get dangerous. Raccoons often go to the bathroom where they breed, and their waste can have a lot of roundworm eggs in it. It is amazing how tough these eggs are; they can stay alive for years in the wild.
The Risks to Health
Microscopically small roundworm eggs are most often spread to people by accidently eating or breathing them in. When these eggs get into the air because of raccoon poop that has been stirred up or dirty dust, they are very dangerous to your health. When roundworm larvae get inside a person, they can move through organs and tissues, which is known as visceral larva migrans.
Some of the most common signs that a person has raccoon roundworms are:
- Nausea and vomiting
- Not being able to coordinate
- Loss of control over muscles
- Being blind
- Coma Death (in very bad cases)
- Children are more likely to get raccoon roundworms because they play and eat with their hands a lot.
Keeping raccoons from getting roundworms
Because raccoon roundworm is so dangerous to your health, it’s important to take precautions if you think raccoons are in your attic or other living places.
- Professional Raccoon Removal: It’s important to get professional raccoon removal services if you think raccoons have moved into your attic. Wildlife removal professionals know how to get rid of raccoons safely and successfully and have the tools to clean up after them.
- Do Not Clean Up Yourself: Do not try to clean up raccoon poop or dirty areas by yourself. Do-it-yourself cleanup can move the eggs around, which raises the risk of exposure.
- Wear protective gear. If you have to go into an area where raccoons have been, put on protective gear like gloves and a mask to lower your risk of getting bitten.
- Seal Entry Points: Once the raccoons are gone, seal any holes they may have used to get into your home. Fill in any gaps or holes in your home’s foundation and attic vents.
- Teach Your Family: Tell your family, especially your kids, about the possible dangers of raccoon roundworm and how important it is to stay away from raccoon poop and places that are contaminated with it.
In conclusion
It may look like raccoons aren’t dangerous, but they can bring a secret and dangerous health risk with them: raccoon roundworm. To keep yourself and your family safe, you should take raccoon activity in your living places very seriously and hire professionals to get rid of them and clean up after them when you need to. Keeping your distance from wildlife will let you enjoy its company while keeping your home safe and free of any secret health risks.
At Raccoon Control Lindsay we offer our neighbors across Lindsay with a high-quality, robust, and reliable set of pest control solutions that include exclusion services and proofing services against all kind of pests and wildlife including the notorious raccoon that roams Lindsay causing all sorts of trouble.