Raccoon Ringworm Now the Deadly Disease Du Jour

If swine flu has taught us anything, it's confirmed our longstanding rejection of pigs as disgusting, immoral creatures who should be kept in their enclosed pens at all costs. But adorable, style-influencing raccoons who live peacefully among us, snacking on our garbage and mysteriously leaving footprints on our cars overnight should be nothing to worry about, right? Not so says the Daily News! The paper reports on Raccoon Ringworm, the latest "rare, deadly disease" spreading itself through the area. Thus far an infant has suffered brain damage (in October), a Brooklyn teen been blinded (in January) annnnnd...well, that's it. The disease is contracted by consumption of infected raccoon feces. One mother tells the News, "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." A reader tipped us off that it's actually roundworm, which the CDC suggests can be avoided by not adopting raccoons.

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By Billy Parker in News on May 3, 2009 4:15 PM

Comments [rss]

solidago

It's roundworm, not ringworm as all of the stories have been saying. It's pretty gruesome - eggs are ingested, worms hatch, and then the little suckers start burrowing around - sometimes in the brain. When I was a kid I read about a case of this in my grandma's Reader's Digest and it has freaked me out ever since.

Amanda Harletsch

those evil raccoons and their baby food industry!

What are the odds of eating anybody's poop and getting sick of it?!

Leave the species alone and highlight human stupidity -once again.

dadoc

Citation, DD7? Yes, factory farming sucks, and is a wonderful medium for the propogation of disease. But Influenza always starts in the Far East from the indigenous fowl (wild and domestic) population, then starts to make its yearly mutation/species jump. That's how the Flu goes, every year. There's no factory farming at the point of the jump. Our piggies are just fine, although Egypt is planning to whack 350K piggies for prevention. So, in response, H1N1 is not caused by the immoral conditions upon which we both agree. It is a natural progression of a viral reservoir that migrates from East to West every year. And yes, pigs are just so cool. Intelligent, cited as smarter than a dog (can city housing residents have pigs over 25 pounds?), many benefits to mankind (insulin, heart valves, delicious pork tenderloin, bacon, etc). But US farm conditions as a fostering influence for swine Flu? Not.

dd7

Swine flu is caused by the "immoral" conditions of factory farming, which make the poor pigs suffer terribly in cramped, dirty spaces, where they never get to breathe fresh air and come down frequently with respiratory diseases.

Nothing disgusting or immoral about pigs - they are highly intelligent creatures that are suffering terribly at the hands of the food industry. (Maybe this article was being ironic, but I had to respond anyway because many people think that way.)

Felix Hoenikker

The virus probably came from the small mixed species farms that are common in Mexico.

marcasm

Who adopts raccoons ?

officeninja

So now we can't eat raccoon feces? Is nothing sacred??

I love that picture.

felixthecat2

JetsFan11

Talk about natural selection in action. So, if you eat poison ivy leaves and develop a severe reaction, should we blame the poison ivy and call it a new threat to humans? Utter stupidity!!! TheDN reporter, Veronika Belenkaya is a dope and should have a feast on rat terds.