Are The Rabid Raccoons Coming For Us?

[Starry Messenger]

http://gothamist.com/2010/01/30/will_the_rabid_racoons_come_for_you.php

Back in December the Department of Health issued an alert regarding rabid raccoons taking over Central Park. Their warning stemmed from having serious intel on at least three rabid raccoons in the area. They warned New Yorkers to stay away from any raccoons, skunks, bats, stray dogs and cats—because the rabies could be spreading and we'd pretty much be looking at an I Am Legend scale outbreak if it crossed over to humans. (The last human case of rabies in the city was back in 1953.)

Now CNN reports that authorities and medical experts warned the public yesterday that a rabies outbreak in Central Park could spread from raccoons to humans... and that there are now at least 28 rabid raccoons in the area!

[MineralMan]

1. My favorite commercial featuring a raccoon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZOeWFBy75A

[QC]

2. Why shut my mouth and feed me buttermilk biscuits! n/t

[Starry Messenger]

5. Did you know raccoons were indigenous to North America?

I wasn't aware that they were based so far to the north, even Canada. We have them in CA but evidently they aren't that common in the rest of the west, mid or south.

[Lorien]

7. Aren't that common? I had 24 in my backyard one night

and I live in Florida. There were just as many in Ohio and North Carolina when I lived in those States. Raccoons are very intelligent omnivores, so they manage well in a variety of environments.

[Starry Messenger]

10. That's what I would have figured!

I know they adapt well. Thank you for the report. I obviously found the wrong website to consult.

[QC]

8. They are very common. Temperamental, too. n/t

[Starry Messenger]

13. They seem cute when they are little.

When they get bigger and their numbers swell they can overwhelm a site.

[QC]

14. True, but you can run them off.

Their temperamental nature makes that pretty easy.

They generally do come back, though.

[Starry Messenger]

17. I guess once a niche becomes hospitable

it's hard to keep them out.

[QC]

27. Yes, they will always come back if they are treated well. n/t

[donco6]

31. Yes, people around here feed them scraps -

And wonder why they don't stay away.

[Lorien]

29. Actually, no, raccoons are sensitive to what an area can bear. If too many raccoons live

within several square miles from one another they start to spread out, and if that doesn't work then they limit their breeding...or at least, litters begin to fail. When you see large numbers it's usually a roaming "gang" of males during the breeding season. They'll sometimes socialized with a female or two and their cubs before heading off. Males group together and roam, while females are more solitary and put down roots.

I used to do wildlife rescue, so I've learned quite a bit about them over the decades,

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. "I Am Legend scale outbreak if it crossed over to humans" - is that ever a problem with rabies?

Human-to-Human Transmission

Human-to-human transmission has occurred among eight recipients of transplanted corneas. Investigations revealed each of the donors had died of an illness compatible with or proven to be rabies (52-58). The eight cases occurred in five countries: Thailand (two cases), India (two cases), Iran (two cases), the United States (one case), and France (one case). Stringent guidelines for acceptance of donor corneas have been implemented to reduce this risk.

Apart from corneal transplants, bite and nonbite exposures inflicted by infected humans could theoretically transmit rabies, but no laboratory-diagnosed cases occurring under such situations have been documented (59). Two nonlaboratory-confirmed cases of human-to-human rabies transmission in Ethiopia have been described (60). The reported route of exposure in both cases was direct salivary contact from another human (a bite and a kiss). Routine delivery of health care to a patient with rabies is not an indication for postexposure prophylaxis unless exposure of mucous membranes or nonintact skin to potentially infectious body fluids has occurred. Adherence to standard precautions as outlined by the Hospital Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee will minimize the risk of exposure (61).

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00056176.htm

'crossed over to humans' sounds like nonsense to me.

[Starry Messenger]

4. CNN reports:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/01/29/central.park.rabies/?hpt=T2

New York (CNN) -- Authorities and medical experts warned Friday that a rabies outbreak in Central Park could spread from raccoons to humans.

Health investigators have confirmed reports of 28 rabid raccoons in or near Central Park this month and last, compared with just three cases from 2003 through November.

The reason is not clear, but the city's health department -- which has been monitoring the situation since December -- is taking it seriously: It's working with the parks department and others to increase surveillance and vaccinate wild raccoons in New York's Central Park, Morningside Park and Riverside Park.

I've never heard of it happening either, which is why it caught my attention.

[Lorien]

6. Only if people get bitten and don't get treatment

rabies outbreaks are much more rare than people think, which is not something that pest control companies want you to know.

[Starry Messenger]

9. That's an angle I hadn't considered.

I worry about small pets tangling with an sick raccoon though. I had a kitty when I was a kid that was mauled and nearly died from fighting a raccoon.

[Lorien]

28. Don't allow them outside unattended. A sick human or dog is just as likely to maul,

torture or kill a small pet as a sick raccoon is. I've had urban raccoons in my yard for 15 years. They sat politely next to my three legged outside cat when he ate his dinner and when nab a handful of kibble when he wasn't looking, but they never antagonized him in any way. Fear and hatred of wildlife is the real "sickness' in this country imho. We're taught to disrespect, fear and destroy nature by the Far Right, who believes that it's only value comes from the profit that can be made from it and they glee they get from making it suffer and killing it.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. The point is that only the bitten person get rabies

They don't pass it on to any other human (well, if they decided to start biting people, perhaps they could ... but that involves a psychoppathic nutcase getting infected). Thus there is not 'crossover', and thus no outbreak could start if a human is infected. The outbreak is among the animals.

[Starry Messenger]

12. Sounds like a case of bad reporting then.

It did seem unusual.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

15. Europe is far more conscientious in attempting to fight rabies

They put out baited meat with vaccine in an attempt to inoculate wild populations, something that we don't do here.

I have read that rabies from raccoons is theoretically possible to pass through just contact with saliva, not necessarily a bite. Say a rabid raccoon goes through your garbage and drools on it and you go pick it up in the morning ungloved and you have open cuts or something and that's how the virus enters. I don't know how likely something like that actually is. There's a ton of rabies in bats.
*************************************************
There is a theory that perhaps Edgar Allen Poe died from rabies.

http://www.umm.edu/news/releases/news-releases-17.htm
Originally Released: September 24, 1996
Patient / Consumer Inquiries: 1-800-492-5538
Media Contact: 410-328-8919

EDGAR ALLAN POE MYSTERY
In an analysis almost 147 years after his death, doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center believe that writer Edgar Allan Poe may have died as a result of rabies, not from complications of alcoholism. Poe's medical case was reviewed by R. Michael Benitez, M.D., a cardiologist at the University of Maryland Medical Center. His review is published in the September 1996 issue of Maryland Medical Journal.

"No one can say conclusively that Poe died of rabies, since there was no autopsy after his death," says Dr. Benitez, who is also an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. "But the historical accounts of Poe's condition in the hospital a few days before his death point to a strong possibility that he had rabies."

[Starry Messenger]

16. I hadn't considered raccoon drool.

That would be a nasty shock of a diagnosis, wouldn't it? That's interesting about Poe. I didn't know that you can be infected and not manifest the symptoms for a period of time.

Dr. Benitez theorizes that Poe may have gotten rabies from being bitten by one of his pets. He was known to have cats and other pets. Although there is no account that Poe had been bitten by an animal, it is interesting that in all the cases of human rabies in the United States from 1977 to 1994, people remembered being bitten in only 27 percent of those cases. In addition, people can have the infection for up to a year without major symptoms.

[LooseWilly]

18. They got Bob.

I miss that cat...

[Edweird]

19. Raccoons of doom? Are you kidding me? Here's your solution :

It's a RACCOON for crying out loud.

[Starry Messenger]

23. I think trapping is effective

and legal. Aside from being kind of cruel to kill them out of hand, you might hit a jogger in Central Park--which is the location under question.

[Edweird]

24. Well: 1) You hunt raccoons at night. 2) You 'tree' them first.

3) A good hunter kills humanely. (In a 'I am legend' situation, I don't see why that would even be a concern, though. I see a near zero chance of that happening FWIW.)

For the record - checking for rabies means death. They physically examine the brain. No matter what, any animal suspected of being rabid is killed.

If there are joggers running in the trees at night, well, they are ninjas and my little ole .22 isn't gonna faze them.

As far as legality, it's only illegal if the authorities say it is. If they needed professionals to eliminate the raccoons, it would happen.

My bigger point, though, is that it's a raccoon. Slightly bigger than an overweight house cat. Just carry a 5 iron and get all Elin Nordegren on it if one shows any signs of aggression. Aggression=rabies. Rabies=death.

[Starry Messenger]

25. Thank you for clarifying.

You make good points. My own vision of the scenario was not as developed, I admit.

[Edweird]

26. Hey, glad to be able to contribute.

I grew up in the South, and while I'm far from what you might expect, I still absorbed all that stuff.

[Solly Mack]

20. "serious intel " Did the squirrels drop a dime?

[Starry Messenger]

21. The pigeons were also in cahoots. n/t

[Solly Mack]

22. Figures.

lolol

[donco6]

30. You can't KEEP those things away!

And they have no fear of anything. People. Noises. Prior humiliation.

[Starry Messenger]

32. Yes, a sense of shame is definitely lacking. nt