Prevention & Control
Baylisascaris infection can be prevented by avoiding contact with raccoons and their feces. Washing your hands after working or playing outdoors is good practice for preventing a number of diseases.
Do not keep, feed, or adopt wild animals, including raccoons, as pets. Infection rarely causes symptoms in raccoons, so you cannot tell if a raccoon is infected by observing its behavior. Roundworm eggs passed in the feces of infected raccoons are not visible to the naked eye. Eggs can only be seen using a microscope.
Raccoons may use sandboxes as a latrine. Keep sandboxes covered when not in use.
• Signs and symptoms depend on how many eggs are ingested and where in the body the larvae migrate (travel). Ingesting a few eggs may cause few or no symptoms, while ingesting large numbers of eggs may lead to serious symptoms.