Monday, May 4, 2009

Just when you thought it was safe...

to remove your surgical mask, this is what I heard at the top of hour during the morning commute on more than a few radio stations -- 1010WINS and 77WABC  among them:  NEW YORK CITY TEEN BLINDED AND BABY BRAIN DEAD FROM RACCOON ROUNDWORM.  I think the Daily News broke the story.

There is not much to say about this really, except that just when the local media decided it might have been a tad heavy-handed with the swine flu, it was deemed prudent to sound the alarm to New Yorkers about raccoon roundworm.  A disease, I might add, that occurs when people, in these cases children, come into contact with raccoon feces.  Now, there are many potential hazards associated with raising children in the city: asthma, strollers on the subway, finding a decent public school, etc.  Brooklyn children playing catch with raccoon feces does not seem like something we should be adding to the list.   I will give the Daily News a pass if it was a one time story. Any flagrant follow-ups by any of the aforementioned organizations will garner a big wag of the finger by me.  That goes for you too MSNBC


1 comment:

Jenni B. said...

This time, I don't agree. Raccoons infest lots of urban areas (I don't know if they're in Prospect Park but it wouldn't surprise me), and are really common in the suburbs. This is a rare disease but the "what if" factor is huge. And who knew? It would help if the Daily News had given us a little description of racooon poop, though.