NYS wildlife pathologist clarifies rabies virus.Please amend the published interview with me on the health risks of raccoon raccoon, nocturnal New World mammal of the genus Procyon. The common raccoon of North America, Procyon lotor, also called coon, is found from S Canada to South America, except in parts of the Rocky Mts. and in deserts. feces. The threat isn't from contamination of raccoon feces with rabies virus rabies virus n. A rather large, bullet-shaped virus of the genus Lyssavirus that causes rabies. . Rabies isn't transmitted through feces but most often by bites contaminated with saliva containing the rabies virus. The threat I was telling you about was in raccoon feces containing the eggs of Baylisascaris procyonis (a small intestine nematode nematode or roundworm Any of more than 15,000 named and many more unnamed species of worms in the class Nematoda (phylum Aschelminthes). Nematodes include plant and animal parasites and free-living forms found in soil, freshwater, saltwater, and even vinegar parasite of raccoons). The eggs of B. procyonis can survive in the environment for years. When the fully-embryonated eggs are swallowed by people and a variety of other animals (e.g. woodchucks, muskrats, cottontail rabbits, porcupines, gray squirrels, and song birds, quail, turkeys, chickens). The eggs hatch and the larvae Larvae, in Roman religion Larvae: see lemures. can migrate to a variety of locations in the body with many larvae going to the central nervous system and eyes. In New York, we have found B. procyonis larvae to be the most common cause of abnormal behavior in woodchucks and field voles. The animals circle, act disoriented dis·o·ri·ent tr.v. dis·o·ri·ent·ed, dis·o·ri·ent·ing, dis·o·ri·ents To cause (a person, for example) to experience disorientation. Adj. 1. , and usually over a period of days, become increasingly lethargic and if not eaten by a predator by then, become comatose co·ma·tose adj. 1. Of, relating to, or affected with coma. 2. Marked by lethargy; torpid. comatose (kō´m . Such animals are easily caught by raccoons or scavenged after death and the B. procyonis larvae in the tissues can develop into adult worm in the intestine of the raccoon. I also found this raccoon nematode larvae to be a major cause of woodrat decline in New York when there are dense raccoon populations in the woodrat habitat. A few humans have died from heavy infestations of the B. procyonis larvae migrating through their nervous tissue and many have had nervous system damage and eye damage caused by it. Children playing in areas contaminated with raccoon feces are especially at risk. Wildlife rehabilitators need to keep their raccoons free of B. procyonis to protect themselves from the worm. Playing in areas contaminated with raccoon feces is dangerous, especially for children. Ward B. Stone, B.A., M.S., Sc. D. (Hon.) Wildlife Pathologist, NYS 1. Is not. See Nis. Dept. Environmental Conservation Wildlife Pathology Unit, 108 Game Farm Road Delmar, NY 12054 wbstone@gw.dec.state.ny.us (518) 478-3032 |
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