Raccoons are not just annoying parasites. They make noise, damage your property and tend not to leave your attics, but that’s not their worst feature. The most serious characteristic of raccoons is that they are a risk to your health and that of your animals.
These wild animals, in fact, are carriers of zoonotic diseases that can even be fatal, both for you and your pets. A very serious problem even if you live in a house with a garden and there are raccoons around. In this case, if you have children, always be very careful that they do not come into contact with the urine or feces of a raccoon. Call Pest Control Kitchener for fast and reliable raccoon removal services.
Here are the most common diseases that can be transmitted by raccoons:
- Roundworms: Certainly one of the most common and dangerous diseases that raccoons carry. It is transmitted through parasites present in their feces and which are extremely dangerous for humans (while raccoons are not damaged) because they attacked the nervous system.
- Leptospirosis: It is a disease transmitted by several Leptospira bacteria, present in the urine of many wild animals, including raccoons. Humans get sick when they come into contact with food, water or soil infected with raccoon urine. Initially, the symptoms of leptospirosis are reminiscent of the flu: severe muscle pain, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or high fever, but if not treated quickly it can easily get worse in anemia, kidney or liver problems or more serious infections such as meningitis.
- Other diseases of bacterial origin in raccoons are tetanus, yersiniosis, tularemia, pasteurellosis and listeriosis.
- Rabies: Viral infection that is transmitted through saliva, then with a bite, by wild animals. Even by raccoons. Again the first symptoms are similar to those of the flu, such as weakness, pain in the muscles and fever. However, it is a disease that attacks the central nervous system which leads to becoming delusional. It is a very risky disease for human life, so it is best to avoid handling raccoons, who are very often carriers of this disease, to avoid being bitten or scratched and therefore infected. If you are bitten or scratched by a raccoon, you must immediately go to a doctor for the vaccine.
- Canine distemper: Probably the most common viral disease in raccoons, whose symptoms are very similar to the symptoms found in dogs. The symptoms are identical to those produced by anger, including neurological ones such as delusion and violence. It is a highly infectious disease for dogs and is fatal in 50% of cases, while in old, small or sick dogs it is even higher.
- Coonhound Paralysis: A condition that can affect dogs that come into contact with the burr of the raccoon, but that is not produced by a bacterium, a virus or a parasite. Raccoon saliva, in fact, contains an enzyme that the immune system of dogs wants to fight in an exaggerated way. It causes a permanent semi-stiffening condition in the dog’s limbs and body. There are no treatments for this condition, if not wait for it to subside, usually after a month.
- Other diseases of viral origin in raccoons are: pseudorabies and infectious canine hepatitis.