ABSTRACT
A large percentage of raccoons are infected with the roundworm species, up to 100% in some areas. Each raccoon may harbor 50 or more worms in its intestinal tract. Birds, squirrels, mice, rabbits, woodchucks, armadillos, and other animals suffer with the worms burrowing throughout their bodies. The roundworms tend to travel to the central nervous system, and can cause confusion, blindness, organ failure, loss of movement, coma, and even death. Most species of Ribeiroia have a life cycle that includes infection of three different animals: small snails that live in ponds or wetlands, frog tadpoles in those same waters, and birds that eat the frogs the tadpoles grow into. Several research studies showed that Leishmania shorten life expectancy for sandflies, one of the insects that carry this deadly parasite. However, a team of British and Brazilian researchers found an interesting perk of these parasites—they actually protected the flies from another deadly germ.
