Go Figure This.

Racoons and Roundworms

I wrote this piece for the Brandon Sun in 1999, and have been asked from time to time to repeat it.




Racoons may be cute and cuddly but they could be carrying a deadly roundworm inside of themselves. The large common roundworm, (baylisascaris procyonis) lives in the intestines of many of these animals.



Studies in the United States have shown that from 70% to 80% of the racoons checked were infected with this roundworm. The eggs form these roundworms are found in the feces of the racoon. It takes about thirty days for the eggs to develop into larvae. The young raccoon has probably become infected at an early age through their mothers body, or from the local environment of the den. The roundworm also uses intermediate hosts in their life cycle. Some of the common carriers include mice, squirrels, rabbits and birds; however, any mammal or bird can be a host carrier. When the racoon eat these infected hosts, they can also become infected by this secondary pathway.



The adult worms, about 6 - 8 inches long and 3/8 inch thick, are tan in colour, cylindrical and tapered at both ends. Infected animals are normal in appearance and show no signs of infection until a short period of time has passed.



When the eggs hatch inside the host animal the larvae penetrate the intestines and migrate through the liver and lungs. From the lungs, they migrate to other parts of the body, especially to the head, neck and brain. This will cause liver and lung damage and the cause of central nervous system disease because of the damage caused to the brain and the spinal cord.



After a period of time, the animals may have a tilted head or slight stumbling when they walk as the nervous system is affected. As the disease progresses, the animal may circle, roll, keep falling over and lie on its sides and paddle with its feet. The animal eventually will lie down and stay lying down, become comatose and finally death.



Most animals develop nervous abnormalities within one to three weeks of ingestions of the eggs. The length of time it takes of the death of the animal to occur depends on the amount of eggs ingested.



The disease is diagnosed with a microscopic examination at autopsy. The larvae or lesions are usually found in the brain, eyes and other tissues.



It will cause death in humans. Documented cases of severe organ damage, eye disease and debilitating central nervous system disease have occurred. It is difficult to diagnose in a living animal. A person or animal that shows signs of eye or central nervous system disease and has a history of association with a pet or wild racoons or a suspected contaminated area could have been in direct contact to this roundworm. An article from the Department of Paediatrics SUNY Health Science Centre at Syracuse reported that a thirteen month old child did survive his infection. The disease, however, cannot be cured and the child continues to have severe neurological complications.

There are no drugs known to kill the migrating larvae or the adult. There is little which can be done to reverse the damage caused by the larvae. Treatment is mainly supportive and designed to decrease inflammatory reactions.



The racoon can contaminate an area very rapidly. The animal will shed about 19850 eggs per gram of feces, but it is known for the count to be as high as 100.000 eggs per gram of feces. An average amount of feces is about 100 grams.



The roundworm eggs are some of the most resistant parasite eggs known. They can survive formaldehyde or hydrochloric acid solutions. Freezing detergents, disinfectants and dyeing do not affect them and they can survive for years even in adverse conditions. Heat seems to be the only thing that will kill these eggs. Autoclaving, flaming the area with gas or a propane torch will do the trick. Large areas of contamination such as soil, concrete, etc. are best decontaminated by torching. Contaminated star, hay, etc. should be carefully removed and burned. Special protection, such as disposable gloves and masks should be worn to prevent self infection. This is important in dry and dusty areas where dry feces may be stirred up and inhaled.



If there are any animals living with the proximity of where a racoon has been then these animals should be considered as possible victims of roundworm. These animals need to be watched carefully to see if they will develop any of the symptoms for the roundworm infection. If a human has been in contact with racoo9ns or their feces, they should consult with their doctor. It is not a well known disease and the doctor may not be aware of it. An expert in parasitic disease should be consulted for clinical problems and the symptoms investigated.



There is no real effective treatment so prevention is paramount to this disease.





n

Racoons and Roundworm Disease

Driving Dad's Old Truck

I don't know what the year was for this truck, perhaps if Ron was still alive he would have known. I just know that it was old.

It badly needed repairs. The floor gear shift every so often would stick and to get it out of gear one had to open the hood and manually move the linkage to take it out of gear. Now you had to stand at a certain place while you are performing this. You did not want to be standing any place else, it would have been disastrous. Remember you are moving the linkage around on the gear shift, and if you had forgotten to shut the truck off before you did this, you just might not know where you're going to end up.      

The truck didn't look quit like this one, it was a dull red and battered up, but it was within this year range. Not only was the gear shift constantly sticking at the most unopportunistic time, the windshield wipers never worked. Not as long as I drove that red truck.

My Mom would send me to get the mail. The nearest post office to our home was in Wood Bay, a small hamlet with a small store, post office and an elevator. That's it, oh yes, there was the post masters house and I also think there was a house for the guy at the elevator also. Somewhere in all these books I have there is some information about Wood Bay. 

I would start by checking to see if the gear shift would decide to work that day. If it did I was in luck. After checking that out, I would get into the cab, depress the clutch and turn the key. That is after making sure the truck is not in gear. It's not unusual for the truck to start running away because one forgot to check. Okay, now you turn the key on and press the starter with your foot. Yup it's on the floor, a metal thing a m-jig that sits about (1 ½) one inches tall and about one inch wide. There was also a similar metal thing on the floor to change the lights from bright to dim; you had to make sure you didn’t get them mixed up.

The engine is turning over, it’s got an old battery also; and after a few hisses and burps and farts, it starts. Believe it or not, it did run smoothly. Dad may not have kept the body of that old truck fixed but he did believe in trying to keep the motors running half decently.  Okay, ready to go, Push the clutch to the floor, and then put the truck in gear, slowly let the clutch out. I said slowly, because if you didn’t do that the truck would stall. Cranky old thing. Once you have the truck starting off smoothly, completely let the clutch out slowly until it is all the way out. Now your in business you might think. NO, you’re not finished yet. Remember this is a floor stick shift and it is not really at all like the newer vehicles that have a floor stick shift. I have driven both.

There is a first second, third and drive and when you start out it’s in first. Now is when that old truck is going to behave or not. The question is can I get it out of first or will it stick again. Okay, so it behaved this time, you press the gas petal and let the truck reach a certain speed before shifting it into second, the same with third and when you finally put it into the driving gear, make sure it’s not the reverse one you put it into.  Third gear was found up and to the left, second gear was to the up and to the right, drive was found lower and to the right and reverse was lower and to the left. And then to top things off, every so often the gears would decide they wouldn’t work and you had to be careful when you put it back into gear. Maybe if you’re lucky and with only a small bit of grinding and clashing of gears you can get the gear shift going again the way it should be going.

If everything goes well and you start down that earthen track to the post office, you pray that it won’t stall and that it wouldn’t rain. An old wiper was kept on the dash in case that happened as you would then have to manually reach around outside and use the wiper to take a swish at the windshield.  Nine times out of ten, I would make it safely there and back.

After I married and moved away from home, we borrowed the truck to haul water, as there was no running water at that time in Elgin. By this time the tires were also going for broke and we didn’t have the money to buy any for that dear old truck. Just think about the weight of a 500 gallon water tank in the back of that truck alone would be lowering the tires, but add to that a full tank of water and you had fun, especially when one tire decides to go completely flat. Ron started to invest in some good used tires and that helped quite a bit in getting water. Eventually Dad wanted his truck back, and we struggled on with paying someone to haul water for us. We didn’t drink that water; we hauled pails of water from the church that was just across the street.

To get back to this truck of my Father’s truck. He drove it for this and that around the farm for quite a few years after that. It just wouldn’t quit it was a tough old truck. To top it off, he eventually sold and made some money on it. How can you beat that.

Often at times, I sit and think about that truck, how it drove, where I went in it, (Mom and Dad wouldn’t let us drive the car.) to get the mail, maybe some groceries, and just about every Saturday, I would head out in the truck to do some housecleaning for someone.  That little old red half ton does have many memories attached to it.

                              

               

                  

   

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

DID YOU KNOW???

Elgin is widely known as the town that had a feast of geese when a flock of them dropped from the sky. Now there is nothing magical about it.

Graham Robertson who was a one time resident recalls eating one of those birds. As the story goes it happened in April 22 of 1932 or 1933, depending on who story it is had a flock of lesser Snow Geese and some Blue Geese flying over head at about 11:20 a.m.

As it so happened there was a severe thunderstorm over head at the same time the geese were flying. There were 52 of the geese instantly killed with an electrical storm, thereby raining geese down on the inhabitants of Elgin. Just think of all the goose grease there was.

A good portion of the flock fell to the ground, but some regained consciousness and flew off but in the end there were 52 geese lying dead on the street ready for the picking. Some had exploded from the shock and others had their insides broken and some were not. 

There had been a high temperature the day before and on April 22 low strato-cumulus clouds merging to nimbus were recorded and local electrical disturbances occurred throughout the west 

The RCMP declared that some of the geese were fit to eat and were distributed amongst the poor. All except one, and I wonder where that went.

Preparing Your Income Tax

Need A Hand To Prepare Your Tax Return?

This information comes from the Federal tax web site.

If you are unable to prepare your income tax and benefit return yourself, the CVITP may be able to help you.  The CVITP assists eligible taxpayers who have low income, and simple non-complex tax situations.

Eligibility Criteria

These maximum income levels should serve as a guideline only.

Taxpayer status                                  Family Income
Single                                                    up to $25,000
Couple                                                  up to $35,000
One Adult with child                           up to $30,000

Volunteers for the CVITP DO NOT prepare tax returns for complex situations. Eligible taxpayers normally served by the CVITP include:

• Aboriginal people
• Low-income individuals and social assistance recipients
• Newcomers to Canada
• Seniors
• Students

Check out http://www.cra-arc-gc.ca/ for further information on this.