How do raccoons acquire Baylisascaris procyonis?

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Multiple Choice

How do raccoons acquire Baylisascaris procyonis?

Raccoons acquire Baylisascaris procyonis through trophic transmission: they eat another animal that already harbors larvae of the parasite. Rodents and other small animals can serve as paratenic hosts, carrying larvae in their tissues after environmental eggs were ingested by them. When a raccoon consumes these infected animals, the larvae mature into adult worms in the raccoon’s small intestine. The eggs shed in raccoon feces do become infectious in the environment, but the route highlighted here—the ingestion of infected animals such as rodents—directly reflects how the parasite can establish itself in the raccoon. The other routes (drinking contaminated water, inhaling eggs, or eating plants) are not the typical ways raccoons acquire this parasite.

Raccoons acquire Baylisascaris procyonis through trophic transmission: they eat another animal that already harbors larvae of the parasite. Rodents and other small animals can serve as paratenic hosts, carrying larvae in their tissues after environmental eggs were ingested by them. When a raccoon consumes these infected animals, the larvae mature into adult worms in the raccoon’s small intestine. The eggs shed in raccoon feces do become infectious in the environment, but the route highlighted here—the ingestion of infected animals such as rodents—directly reflects how the parasite can establish itself in the raccoon. The other routes (drinking contaminated water, inhaling eggs, or eating plants) are not the typical ways raccoons acquire this parasite.

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