Procyon Lotor, more commonly known as a Raccoon, is a highly intelligent mammal. The raccoon is a wild animal and can carry many diseases. Three of these diseases that may be transmitted are rabies, Raccoon roundworm, and Leptospirosis. One disease that a Raccoon may carry is Rabies. Rabies is a disease that is caused by a virus and it is almost always fatal. It is spread through an infected animal’s bite. This disease, rabies, infects the central nervous system, or CNS, eventually causing brain disease and then death. Now the symptoms of rabies are like the symptoms of other illnesses, like headaches, fever, or just discomfort or weakness.
Another disease transmitted by the Raccoon is the Raccoon roundworm. Now the roundworm is a parasite and can be found inside of a Raccoon’s intestine. The Raccoon sheds millions of these roundworm eggs into its feces. After the feces goes out of the Raccoon’s body, it is still containing all these eggs. These roundworms can cause serious damage if they enter human bodies. So, the disease Raccoon roundworm is spread when humans transfer the Raccoon’s feces into their own mouths. This might happen is if a child does not wash their hands before eating and accidentally gets some of the feces into their mouth.
Leptospirosis is also a disease that a Raccoon may transmit. Leptospirosis is transmitted through the urine of the infected animal. If any of the urine, or contaminated water with that urine, gets on people’s skin, nose, mouth, eyes or even swallowed, that person may get infected. If not treated, Leptospirosis will cause kidney damage, liver failure, or even death. Some of the symptoms are a high fever, headache, muscle aches, diarrhea, or vomiting.
Although these diseases seem very dangerous, they are preventable. You can prevent yourself from getting all these diseases by never feeding a raccoon, just trying not to go near one, and even just washing your hands before every meal. The raccoon is a very dangerous animal, and it will spread diseases such as rabies, Raccoon roundworm, and Leptospirosis.
