What Should You Do If You Are Exposed to Raccoon Poop?

If you have touched, inhaled dust from, or accidentally ingested material from raccoon feces, the single most important step is to wash your hands and any exposed skin immediately with soap and warm water, then contact your doctor or local poison control center the same day. The urgency comes from a parasite called Baylisascaris procyonis, or raccoon roundworm, whose eggs can cause severe neurological and eye damage if they get into the human body. Because the most effective medical treatment works only within the first few days after exposure, waiting to see whether symptoms develop is a dangerous gamble.

Why Raccoon Feces Are Uniquely Dangerous

Many wild animals carry parasites, but raccoon droppings pose a specific threat that other wildlife feces generally do not. Raccoon roundworm is extremely common in raccoon populations. In the midwestern United States, studies have documented infection rates of 68 to 82 percent among raccoons, and a study of raccoons trapped in New Orleans found about 39 percent were infected.¹² A single infected raccoon can shed millions of roundworm eggs in its droppings. Those eggs are not immediately infectious when fresh, but after sitting in the environment for a couple of weeks they become capable of causing disease if swallowed.

Once the eggs are swallowed by a person, the larvae hatch in the intestines and begin migrating through body tissues. Unlike many parasites that stay in the gut, raccoon roundworm larvae aggressively burrow into organs, especially the brain and eyes. Humans are what parasitologists call “dead-end hosts,” meaning the larvae cannot complete their life cycle in us, but they keep moving and causing damage as they try.³

Step-by-Step Immediate Response

Your actions in the first few hours and days matter more than anything else. Here is what to do if you suspect exposure:

Wash thoroughly: Scrub your hands, arms, and any skin that contacted the feces with soap and warm water. If material got near your face or mouth, rinse your mouth with water and spit repeatedly. Remove and bag any contaminated clothing.
Call your doctor immediately: Explain the exposure clearly. If your doctor is unfamiliar with raccoon roundworm, ask for a referral to an infectious disease specialist. You can also call your local or state health department for guidance.
Ask about preventive treatment: Post-exposure prophylaxis with an anti-parasitic drug should be started as soon as possible, ideally within one to three days of swallowing contaminated material. This is the window before larvae leave the intestinal tract and begin migrating into tissues.⁴
Monitor for symptoms: Even after starting treatment, watch for neurological changes, vision problems, or fever over the following weeks. Report anything new to your doctor promptly.

The critical takeaway is that treatment is time-sensitive. Albendazole, the drug most commonly recommended for suspected exposures, works best when it can kill the larvae while they are still in the gut. Once larvae have migrated into the brain or eyes, they are much harder to reach, and the damage they cause along the way can be permanent.

What Counts as an Exposure

Not every encounter with raccoon droppings carries the same risk. The eggs must be swallowed (or in rare cases, inhaled as dust) to cause infection. Simply seeing raccoon feces in your yard is not an exposure. The situations that create real risk include:

Hand-to-mouth contact: Touching raccoon feces, contaminated soil, or objects soiled by raccoon droppings and then touching your mouth, eating, or smoking without washing your hands first.
Inhaling contaminated dust: Sweeping, raking, or power-washing dried raccoon feces can aerosolize eggs, which you might inhale and then swallow from your throat.
Children playing in contaminated areas: Young children who put their hands and objects in their mouths are at the highest risk. Raccoon latrines in yards, sandboxes, or under decks are particularly dangerous for toddlers.
Eating contaminated produce: Garden vegetables or berries grown in soil where raccoons have defecated can carry eggs on their surface.

Fresh raccoon droppings are less dangerous than older ones because the eggs need time in the environment before becoming infectious. But you cannot reliably tell how old droppings are, so treat any raccoon feces as potentially hazardous.

What the Infection Looks Like in Humans

Human raccoon roundworm infection is rare but devastating when it reaches the brain or eyes. The disease takes different forms depending on where the larvae end up migrating.

When larvae reach the central nervous system, the result is a condition called neural larva migrans. Patients develop brain inflammation with a heavy eosinophil response. The mechanical damage from the larvae physically tunneling through brain tissue is compounded by the body’s own inflammatory reaction, which is neither protective nor curative but adds to the destruction.⁵ Symptoms can include confusion, loss of coordination, difficulty walking, sleepiness progressing to coma, and seizures. In a CDC review of seven confirmed cases across six states, all patients survived, but roughly half were left with severe neurological damage.⁶

When larvae reach the eyes instead, the condition is called ocular larva migrans. It most often shows up as painless vision loss, retinal lesions, and a specific pattern of retinal inflammation.⁷ Animal studies have confirmed that raccoon roundworm larvae produce retinal damage, hemorrhages, and inflammation that closely matches the pattern seen in suspected human cases.⁸ Vision loss from ocular larva migrans is often permanent and usually affects only one eye.

Milder infections where larvae stay in the visceral organs (liver, lungs) can produce fever, fatigue, and abdominal discomfort. Some people may be exposed to low numbers of eggs and never develop noticeable symptoms at all. Testing among wildlife rehabilitators, a group with regular raccoon contact, found antibodies to the parasite in about 7 percent of those tested, suggesting that subclinical infections do happen.⁹

Children Are at the Greatest Risk

Almost every severe case of neural larva migrans from raccoon roundworm has occurred in young children, especially toddlers. The reason is behavioral: young children are far more likely to put soil, sticks, and other objects in their mouths, and they tend to play at ground level in exactly the places raccoons use as latrines. A child crawling under a deck or digging in a sandbox near a raccoon latrine can easily ingest enough eggs to cause a serious infection.

Medical guidance specifically recommends that children with a clear history of ingesting raccoon feces or contaminated soil be started on preventive albendazole treatment immediately, before waiting for any test results.⁴ If you have young children and raccoons in your neighborhood, the most important preventive step is identifying and removing raccoon latrines from your property.

How to Identify and Safely Clean a Raccoon Latrine

Raccoons do not scatter their droppings randomly. They use communal defecation sites called latrines, where multiple raccoons return repeatedly. Understanding where these occur helps you find and eliminate the source of risk. Research on latrine structure found that most latrines were located either on logs (about 49 percent) or at the base of large trees (about 37 percent).¹⁰ In suburban settings, common latrine locations include flat rooftops, the tops of woodpiles, fallen logs, large tree forks, attic spaces, and the base of chimneys. You will typically see a concentrated pile of dark, tubular droppings, often containing visible seeds and berries.

A study of California communities found that 28 to 49 percent of residential properties with raccoon activity harbored at least one latrine containing roundworm eggs, and 16 to 32 percent of those latrines contained eggs that were already infectious.¹¹ That means if raccoons are using your yard, the odds are meaningful that roundworm eggs are present.

Cleaning up a raccoon latrine is not like picking up dog waste. The eggs are extraordinarily tough. They resist freezing, desiccation, and even undiluted household bleach.¹² Here is how to approach it safely:

Wear protection: Disposable gloves, an N95 mask (to avoid inhaling dust), and disposable shoe covers or old shoes you can throw away afterward.
Dampen the area first: Lightly mist the feces with water before disturbing them. This reduces the chance of eggs becoming airborne.
Remove and bag material: Use a shovel to scoop up feces along with any contaminated soil, leaves, or debris beneath them. Double-bag everything in heavy garbage bags and seal them. Dispose of the bags in a dumpster or at a landfill; do not compost or bury them.
Heat is the only reliable kill method: The eggs die at temperatures below 62 degrees Celsius (about 144 degrees Fahrenheit), and inactivation happens relatively quickly at that temperature.¹² For hard surfaces like decks or patios, boiling water or a propane torch (used carefully) can kill eggs. On soil, the most practical option is often to remove the top several inches and replace it.
For indoor contamination: Professional cleanup may be needed. Industry protocols call for manual removal, wet wiping of surfaces, and HEPA-filtered vacuuming, with all contaminated material sealed for disposal.¹³

Do not use bleach thinking it will sterilize the area. The eggs’ tough outer shell makes them essentially bleach-proof. Do not power-wash without wearing respiratory protection. And do not burn contaminated materials in an uncontrolled fire, as this can spread eggs before they are destroyed.

Risks to Dogs and Other Pets

Dogs can pick up raccoon roundworm by eating raccoon feces, which plenty of dogs will happily do given the chance. The good news is that dogs are poor hosts for the parasite compared to raccoons. In an experimental study, only 2 of 12 dogs developed active infections (both in the low-dose group), while all 12 raccoons became infected. Dogs that did become infected shed far fewer eggs than raccoons and eventually cleared the infection on their own, whereas raccoons shed eggs continuously.¹⁴

A large survey of over 61 million dog fecal samples in the United States and Canada found that only about 0.005 percent tested positive for Baylisascaris eggs, though positive samples turned up in 47 states.¹⁵ So while the overall prevalence in dogs is very low, it is geographically widespread. The practical concern is less about your dog getting severely ill and more about an infected dog shedding eggs in areas where your children play. Regular deworming and preventing your dog from eating raccoon feces are the main countermeasures. If your dog has eaten raccoon droppings, mention it to your vet at the next visit.

Occupational Exposure for Wildlife Workers

Wildlife rehabilitators face chronic low-level exposure to raccoon roundworm because they handle raccoons and their waste regularly. A serological survey of 347 asymptomatic wildlife rehabilitators in the United States and Canada found that 24 tested positive for antibodies to the parasite, indicating that subclinical exposure is genuinely happening in this group.⁹ Most were apparently healthy, which suggests that low-dose exposures may be fought off by the immune system without obvious illness, though the long-term significance of subclinical infection is not well understood.

Despite the known hazard, protective practices among rehabilitators are inconsistent. A survey of 447 raccoon rehabilitators found that hand hygiene was generally good, but masks and gowns were seldom used. Part-time volunteers and those in certain regions were significantly less likely to use protective equipment consistently. Inconsistent handwashing after raccoon contact and working in areas where the parasite is highly endemic were significant risk factors for testing positive on serological surveys.¹⁶ The lesson for anyone who handles raccoon waste regularly, whether professionally or as a homeowner dealing with a persistent latrine, is that hand hygiene alone is not sufficient. Gloves, respiratory protection, and dedicated clothing are all part of minimizing risk.

Preventing Future Exposure

Cleaning up a latrine is only half the job. Raccoons are creatures of habit and will return to the same latrine sites. If you do not address the underlying raccoon presence, new feces will appear within days. Strategies for long-term prevention include securing garbage cans with locking lids, removing pet food from outdoor areas at night, sealing entry points to attics and crawl spaces, and trimming tree branches that provide roof access. In some jurisdictions, wildlife control operators can trap and relocate raccoons, though this is often a temporary fix since new raccoons from the surrounding area tend to fill the vacancy.

For yards where raccoons have been active, inspect regularly for new latrines, especially in the high-probability locations: on or near fallen logs, at the bases of large trees, on flat elevated surfaces, and in sheltered spots like woodpiles and under decks. Sandboxes should be covered when not in use. If you garden in an area where raccoons visit, wash produce thoroughly and consider raised beds with covers to keep animals out.

When Your Doctor Has Never Heard of It

One practical frustration people face after raccoon feces exposure is that many primary care physicians are unfamiliar with Baylisascaris. The infection is rare in humans, and medical school curricula may not cover it in detail. If your doctor is unsure how to proceed, the CDC maintains guidance on diagnosis and treatment of Baylisascaris infections, and your state or county health department can often connect you with an infectious disease specialist. For children, pediatric infectious disease physicians are the most appropriate referral.

There is no widely available rapid test to confirm that you have swallowed infectious eggs. Diagnosis of active infection relies on clinical symptoms combined with specialized antibody testing, which is performed mainly at the CDC. This is another reason why preventive treatment based on exposure history is so strongly recommended: by the time you could confirm infection through testing, the window for effective treatment has closed. The CDC review of confirmed cases stressed that early treatment of suspected cases is critical to prevent permanent damage.⁶ Do not let an unfamiliar doctor’s hesitation delay your access to care. Be your own advocate, bring printed information if needed, and push for a specialist referral if your provider is uncertain.

1
Wildlife Society Bulletin. Measuring prevalence of raccoon roundworm (Baylisascaris procyonis): a comparison of common techniques
2
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. Prevalence of Baylisascaris procyonis in Raccoons Trapped in New Orleans, Louisiana, 2014-2017
3
PubMed. Central nervous system and eye manifestations of infection with Baylisascaris procyonis
4
Oxford Academic (Paediatrics & Child Health). Raccoon roundworm infection: What a child health care practitioner in Canada needs to know about a rare but important zoonotic helminth infection
5
PubMed Central. Baylisascaris Procyonis Neural Larva Migrans in an Infant in New York City
6
CDC / MMWR. Raccoon Roundworm Infection Associated with Central Nervous System Disease and Ocular Disease – Six States, 2013-2015
7
PubMed Central. Human infections with the raccoon roundworm, Baylisascaris procyonis: A scoping review
8
Ophthalmology. The Raccoon Ascarid: A Probable Cause of Human Ocular Larva Migrans
9
PubMed Central. Baylisascaris procyonis Roundworm Seroprevalence among Wildlife Rehabilitators, United States and Canada, 2012-2015
10
The American Midland Naturalist. Raccoon Latrine Structure and Its Potential Role in Transmission of Baylisascaris procyonis to Vertebrates
11
Europe PMC / Emerging Infectious Diseases. Raccoon roundworm eggs near homes and risk for larva migrans disease, California communities
12
PubMed Central. Viability of Baylisascaris procyonis Eggs
13
14th Wildlife Damage Management Conference Proceedings. A Draft Proposal for an Industry Protocol for the Cleanup of Raccoon Latrines
14
Parasitology. Experimental comparison of Baylisascaris procyonis definitive host competence between domestic dogs and raccoons (Procyon lotor)
15
PubMed Central. Distribution and prevalence of Baylisascaris in domestic dogs in the United States and Canada, 2017–2023
16
PubMed. Raccoon roundworm (Baylisascaris procyonis) as an occupational hazard: Use of personal protective equipment and infection control practices among raccoon rehabilitators