If you’ve been looking for a reason to keep a flamethrower in your house, you might have found it.
This week, the Los Angeles County Department of Health reported that two people have been infected with a raccoon parasite that causes severe, often fatal, infections of the eyes, organs and central nervous system. Those who survive often suffer severe neurological damage, including blindness, paralysis, loss of coordination, seizures, cognitive impairment and brain atrophy.
The parasitic roundworm that causes the infection is called Baylisascaris procyonis and is spread via eggs in raccoon feces. Adults live in the intestines of masked scavengers, with female roundworms laying around 200,000 eggs per day. Once released into the environment, the eggs remain infective for years. They can survive drying and most chemical treatments and disinfectants, including bleach.
Humans become infected when they inadvertently eat soil or other materials contaminated with the eggs and feces. Although infection is rare (29 cases were recorded between 1973 and 2015), young children and people with developmental disabilities are most at risk.
For example, an 18-month-old Illinois boy with Down syndrome died of infection after chewing and sucking contaminated firewood bark. A subsequent autopsy found three larvae per gram of brain tissue, for a total infestation estimated at 3,027, according to a 2016 report.
Burn it all down
The Los Angeles Department of Public Health said in a news release this week that while the risk to the general public is “low,” the two cases are “of concern due to the large number of raccoons living in close proximity to humans and the likelihood of high infection rates among raccoons. This confirmed case of a rare infection serves as an important reminder to all Los Angeles County residents to take precautions to prevent the spread of diseases from animals to humans, known as zoonotic diseases.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the most effective way to prevent raccoon roundworms is to kill them with fire. While chemicals are unlikely to kill the infested eggs, extreme heat can destroy them instantly.
You may need to employ this method if you have raccoons around your property. Raccoons tend to defecate in smelly communal toilets, such as at the base of trees, tree stumps, firewood piles, decks, patios and other elevated surfaces, and in attics and garages.
If you suspect there’s a raccoon outhouse on your property, the CDC recommends pouring boiling water over the area or setting it on fire. The CDC recommends using a propane torch, but a personal flame thrower will also work. The CDC warns that setting the toilet on fire “may cause fire, burns, or surface damage.”
“Before setting fire to your toilet, contact your local fire department for more information about local regulations and safety precautions,” the CDC says. “Concrete foundations, bricks, and metal shovels and gardening tools will not be damaged by lighting a fire. Do not set fire to surfaces that may melt or burn.”
The CDC advises against using fires in indoor toilets, instead describing how to clean them carefully with hot, soapy water, but removed waste and contaminated materials can also be burned outdoors as long as they are not buried or disposed of in the trash.
