Are Tiny White (Potentially Parasitic) Worms Related To Raccoons?

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A reader recently reached out to us on behalf of her son. She explained that he complains of tiny white worms on him that tend to gather in his knees and elbows. They look like they have white thread (like a spider web) coming from them. The son believes that baby powder makes them come out of his skin, and he thinks the worms are from the garage where a few raccoons have been living for a long time. The worms are too small to be photographed, so she didn’t include a picture.

Our initial thought was that our reader son’s could be dealing with roundworms, which are white intestinal worms that can infect both raccoons and humans. However, he is dealing with these creatures on/in his skin, not in his stomach. Also, the fact that these worms have what appears to be white thread coming from them is quite interesting. While we are familiar with worms that look like pieces of white thread (conveniently named threadworms) and worm-like organisms that can produce silk (inchworms, a.k.a. moth larvae) neither of these sound like what our reader has described.

Since this is a medical issue, even if we were confident about what our reader’s son has, we wouldn’t be able to offer any advice, diagnosis, or treatment ideas. We aren’t medical professionals and therefore aren’t licensed to weigh in on medical matters. We recommend that our reader take her son to a doctor who will hopefully be able to identify and treat these worms. We also think it would be wise to clear the raccoons out of the garage. Although the tiny white worms might not be related to the raccoons, sharing any living space with raccoons isn’t considered safe.

One thing our reader might want to consider is that her son’s complaints sound a lot like the complaints of people suffering from Morgellons disease.  For more information about Morgellons, our reader can visit the Charles E. Holman Morgellons disease Foundation website. She can also find her son a doctor who specializes in travel infectious diseases, as these sorts of doctors tend to be more familiar with various types of parasites.

To wrap up, we don’t know what the tiny white worms are that our reader’s son is dealing with. We encourage our reader and her son to visit a doctor, who will hopefully be able to provide some answers!

 

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Are Tiny White (Potentially Parasitic) Worms Related To Raccoons?
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One of our readers reached out to us about a medical issue. We aren't medical professionals and therefore aren't licensed to weigh in on medical matters.
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Author: Worm Researcher Dori

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