Rabies

[Bogoa]

can you get Rabies eating cooked Coon.

[comfortablynumb]

why would you eat a rabid coon?

[Bogoa]

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

why would you eat a rabid coon?

Smack self on head!, hehe, I wouldn't but I ate some Coon meat for the first time two weeks ago my wife picking at me for doing so, Rabies, sigh. Anyhow i kinda scared the heck out of self reading about Rabies. Now I wish I never ate it but it was good with sweet tots. hehe. You know the internet can scare the hell out of ya. I think I see my Doc Monday.

[comfortablynumb]

any mammal can be a rabies carrier... deer, cow, dog cat squurel groundhog... whatever you shoot with fur, could be a carrier.

if it wasnt rare, i wouldnt sweat to much besides in two weeks after exposure youd be dead.

[Cygnet]

As long as it was well cooked, it should be fine.

CLEANING the carcass could be another matter. If the coon was rabid and you were exposed to bodily fluids from it, that could definitely be an issue.

Leva

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

any mammal can be a rabies carrier... deer, cow, dog cat squurel groundhog... whatever you shoot with fur, could be a carrier.

if it wasnt rare, i wouldnt sweat to much besides in two weeks after exposure youd be dead.

[crashy]

I dont understand why you'd eat the critter anyways eeewww!!!! :haha: :haha:

[Pony]

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

if it wasnt rare, i wouldnt sweat to much besides in two weeks after exposure youd be dead.

Umm... I don't think that's quite accurate. About the "two weeks" thing, I mean.

According to the FDA, rabies can lie dormant in humans for up to a year:

"Because rabies may be contagious before any clinical signs appear, a healthy-looking animal can transmit the disease. Rabies' incubation period, the time between infection and the appearance of symptoms, can range from a few weeks to a year or longer in humans, although 30 to 50 days is average. Animals usually develop symptoms between 20 and 60 days after exposure. The incubation period depends on bite location and the dose of virus received."

http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/996_rab.html

As for whether you can get rabies from eating an infected animal, the only information I could find was a rather vague reference to Darwin's observation of a Peruvian tribe eating a rabid bull.

It couldn't hurt to check in with your doctor, Bogoa. But if the animal wasn't unusually friendly or overly aggressive, or otherwise showing symptoms of rabies, you're probably okay, especially if the meat was thoroughly cooked. If it was rare, you may be more in danger of toxoplasmosis than rabies...

Pony!

[Tango]

Originally Posted by Pony

According to the FDA, rabies can lie dormant in humans for up to a year:

Pony!

Well I'll bet this has Bogoa sweating. I haven't read anything about rabies transmission through cooked meat. I think heat might kill the virus - not sure.

[Ross]

I asked my vet a similar question and he described rabies as a fragile virus that dies quickly when drooled out of the carrier because it can not survive the less than body temperature, for long. So if the coon was cleaned properly and the meat "chilled" the virus should be dead before it was cooked and I'd be reasonably sure cooking would kill the virus too. I'd think the only real danger would be when it was cleaned, your working with a sharp knife near a warm infected body (if it was infected) Now I'm no expert and this is second hand info so if you're really concerned call your doctor!

[Pony]

Originally Posted by Tango

Well I'll bet this has Bogoa sweating. I haven't read anything about rabies transmission through cooked meat. I think heat might kill the virus - not sure.

Oh, dear. I didn't mean to alarm Bogoa! Actually, it's GOOD news -- treatment is only effective before you become symptomatic.

But I agree with the others: As long as there wasn't a lot of handling of the carcass or playing with the raccoon before dispatching it (is that playing with your food?) then things are probably all right.

Pony!

[moonwolf]

Rabies virus would be in highest concentration in brain, and possilbly spine tissue. At the least, the head should not be cooked or eaten with an animal such as a raccoon.
Common sense also dictates to cook well any meat nowdays, and it wouldn't be rabies that I would worry about as much as food poisoniing from gastric bacterial pathogens that would be more risk in uncooked meat.
If the animal did not appear heallthy to begin with, why take any chance handling or eating it? I would also take precaution with skinning and cleaning by wearing latex gloves and persistent hand washing. Keep any possibilities of injesting contaminated with blood or body fluids of the animal into your mouth, and if you have cuts or scrapes, then definitely avoid any animal fluids (including saliva) from entering them. Keep betadine available for immediate self wound cleansing for precaution.

[Irish Pixie]

We've shot two rabid raccons (out during the day, not afraid of us etc) and our neighor shot one in the last few months. All are handled with rubber gloves, and minimum contact at that, then deeply buried. Rabies had died down around here after it was pretty much epidemic for years, it's back again. The authorities won't even come out and test the bodies anymore.

Stacy

[Little Quacker in OR]

The Rabies Virus is endemic in wild mammals, like the plague.It's just there.

Two other concerns here are the Raccoon Roundworm(Baylisascaris)which is almost indistructible and thus anyone who mucks about with them is in danger(as are warm blooded domesictic stock)from being infected by this parasite. It's dangerous and really bad news. I sure wouldn't eat one! I guess like pork, you may be fine if the meat is well cooked?

I would also worry about luring in raccoons for trapping as many populations carry the distemper and parvo virus. I would think of your pets here.

I think the average person out there has no idea how wild animals live, the natural parasites and diseases they carry and how things have changed in the "wild" since Man has screwed it up. Some of the changes are just due to air travel and the unknowing transportation of pathogens from these third world countries to here. We import animals and plants from these locals without a thought, and their diseases and parasites come with them.

When you consider that the biggest killers known to history are parasites, i.e. fleas, ticks, mosquitos etc. it is pretty scary. Any hunter can tell you what a deer carries around and how their popultions have been affected by disease and parasites.


just some thoughts on the subject.

Hope the meal was worth it! LOL

LQ

[comfortablynumb]

mm I stand corrected...

then by reasoning, if you let it get cold before you chop it up, the virus is dead?

hope so ive been elbow deep in luke warm deer blod in butchering season and never really thought about it much...
(checking the mirror for foam on my lips)