More damaging than swine flu
And you thought it was a coincidence when the Umbrella Corporation used Raccoon City as its personal petri dish in the “Resident Evil” video game, film and comic book series? Hardly. I know for a fact not to mess with raccoons, but I haven’t had to deal with Raccoon Roundworm. I feel horribly for the unfortunate Brooklyn youngsters and their families whose lives have been changed forever by the rare affliction.
Veronika Belenkaya reports for the New York Daily News that while fewer than 30 cases of Raccoon Roundworm have been reported nationwide at this writing, the effects can be much more damaging than the swine flu outbreak that has the Centers For Disease Control and most news agencies in an artificial panic. Get a bad flu and don’t care for self treatment? Go to urgent care. If the bills are too much, consider quick payday loans and installment loans. Not much more to it than that. Unlike Raccoon Roundworm, blindness and brain damage aren’t tragic side effects.
What happened in Brooklyn?
A Brooklyn infant became brain damaged and a teenager was blinded in one eye, according to Belenkaya. In the first case, the healthy infant began having seizures and spinal problems in October 2008. The heart-wrenching prognosis has kept the child in a hospital ever since with complications resulting from diagnosed brain damage resulting from Raccoon Roundworm infection.
This past January, a Brooklyn teenager lost sight in the right eye due to an infection. The teen hadn’t left the city recently.
The city’s Department of Health is on alert for more cases of the disease, which is contracted through contact with raccoon feces. The parasitic infection can cause permanent nerve damage and death. Officials note that this condition had previously been mislabeled Raccoon Ringworm.
“Parents should closely supervise small children in areas where raccoons live to prevent possible ingestion of raccoon feces,” said Sally Slavinski of the New York State Health Department.
Symptoms and prevention
Unfortunately, you won’t know immediately if you’ve been infected. It takes anywhere from two to four weeks for symptoms to develop. These symptoms would include nausea, loss of coordination and muscle control and blindness. More severe nerve damage and death can be the result. Medical officials say that children and developmentally disabled youngsters youngsters are most prone to Raccoon Roundworm; playgrounds are particularly dangerous places where the curious can run across infected raccoon fecal matter.
“It’s terrifying. God only knows how I would react if my kids became that ill,” said Angelia Kane, mother of two. “The concern for me would be kids being kids. I have a 3-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy. When they’re slightly out of sight, they’re going to pick up something in the course of their normal behavior and put their filthy hands in their mouths.”
WASH… YOUR… HANDS
Whether it’s swine flu or Raccoon Roundworm, one of the best things you can do is to keep your hands clean. You shouldn’t keep your kids locked inside to prevent them from setting foot on a playground; you should simply take precautions. Help your children understand what animal feces look like (if they aren’t already aware), and teach them not to touch, particularly with bare hands.
“If you spend enough time reading about all the things kids can contract,” said Kane, “you don’t leave the house.”
If fecal matter is found anywhere, there is a safe way to remove it.
“Raccoon feces should be removed using gloves and disposable bags, and placed in trash to keep from children,” Slavinski said.
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Raccoons, though they might be cute and cuddly looking, are also harbingers of disease. This is why you also don’t let your children eat dirt – that’s where nasty little buggers like the roundworm live. There was an episode of House MD (even though the show isn’t known for its medical accuracy) where a kid gets raccoon roundworms from eating out of the sandbox. They’re a pest. Like seagulls or squirrels, you want to keep them away from your home.