Raccoons are all over the place in urban environments because garbage, roadkill and all kinds of dangerous foods are available. The raccoon has a powerful and resilient digestive tract so they can eat roadkill and not be affected by the dangers. The most specific one is Baylisascaris procyonis commonly known as Raccoon Round Worm. This parasite can be gotten from eating rotting meat and dead animals, something humans do not frequently do. The parasite is common in raccoons but is not common in human hospitals. There have been few events of infection but the most common person to be infected is almost always a pet or a child. This can be devastating as the parasite is a devastating and slow-moving illness that slowly collapses the person’s organs and systems until they go blind and slip into a coma from which they will never wake. Brain death will occur soon after. This is something to take very seriously. The reason there are so few infections is because of vast province-wide education on the effects. If you see raccoon feces on your property do not clean it on your own without protective gear. The roundworm eggs can be air-born if the feces are dry and spraying it with a hose can blow the eggs all over your property. While you may not notice your pet and children will.
As said some raccoons carry this parasite because they eat dead animals like roadkill. This also means not every raccoon has it? However, the danger is too serious to think of that as a reason to not take precautions when cleaning it. The illness takes over a week to show symptoms and by then it is normally too late. So if you learn you have raccoon feces on your property and your children could have been near it, take them to the hospital right away. Do not wait for symptoms.
The thing that makes this worse is that raccoons tend to defecate in latrines. Not just them but other raccoons will seek out these latrines and add to them. This is why you should never assume the feces is from one animal, even if it is all in one place. If two raccoons defecated there and one had roundworm then the feces is infected. Never assume it’s from one raccoon or that there is no roundworm. Children and pets are not the only people in danger but people with developmental disabilities are especially in danger as they often lack even a child’s sensibility and will put anything in their mouth. So if you have it on your property, no matter what kind of property that is, get rid of it as soon you can. If this situation continues to happen unabated then you can try taking precautions like storing your garbage in locked containers. Most raccoons come to your property for more than one reason, defecate, go through garbage and see if anything died on your property that it can eat.