I'm a bit concerned by the mention of feeding raccoon meat to a ferret
- unless I misunderstood the posting about raw food?

I live in California and a wildlife rescue group I am affiliated
with rehabilitates raccoons. Because of the danger involved with
Baylisascaris procyonis (raccoon roundworm), volunteers are only
allowed to handle the baby/adult raccoons with gloves. Although the
risk of infection to humans is relatively low, (only 14 human cases
known so far in the US) the roundworm ova can be lethal to all small
animal species that consume it, but does not affect the raccoon host
itself.

The roundworm ova are impossible to destroy except by incineration (the
raccoon rehabbers have to use concrete floored caging, collect all
fecal material to be taken to the landfill, then bleach floor after
each group of raccoons are released). There's a pretty good general
article in Wikipedia on the disease in
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baylisascaris
The ova/eggs are in the feces by the several thousand - see
http://www.raccoonworld.com/raccoonroundworm.html
I think they are pretty impervious to heat - we had to use
flamethrowers on the aviaries when they had soil flooring.

I thought about it, and unless the raccoon flesh was cleaned well
(remove the guts intact), plus clean the butt area with disinfectant,
it's possible that ova (being microscopic) might contaminate the meat,
which is why I was a bit concerned. We are told that most raccoons in
CA carry the "Bayworm" as its commonly called, and that this is the
case in most other states, I found these CDC articles -
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol8no4/01-0273.htm
and
<http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/baylisascaris/2004_PDF_Baylisascaris.pdf>

It's a really interesting parasite. In normal circumstances (both rural
areas and cities) the eggs/ova in the "latrine areas" are eaten by
another species (rabbits, rodents) that are foraging in an area where
there is dried raccoon poop. The eggs develop in the new host's gut,
and grow into larva which then burrow through the hosts GI tract and
burrow/migrate through the tissues to the eyes, brain, and other parts
of the body.

The human disease is called visceral larval migrans. It's a pretty
rare disease - but a couple of children playing in yards where there
have been raccoon feces have gotten sick/died from raccoon roundworm
infections, and a guy in CA I think went blind when a larva migrated
and encysted in his brain. Worming meds do not help once the larvae are
in the flesh, but do keep the eggs from being shed in the live animals.
As I said before, it's rare in humans, but what an amazing and
fascinating parasite!

[MS]

[Posted in FML 6556]