"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message
from Magwitch contains these words:

Try Googling and see how many children are hospitalised by hedgehog/fox
poo
per annum, why don't you?

AFAIK, the statistics for toxocara in humans do not differentiate
between which host the problem came from.

http://www.provet.co.uk/health/disea...ocaracanis.htm

gives a 35% to 55% incidence of toxocara in UK foxes.

Since foxes are known to be toxocara (and hydatid, and salmonella) hosts
and shed both worms and eggs in their pooh, there is some risk to
children playing on heavily-poohed lawn; just as there is to children
playing on grass fouled by dogs. Dog owners can reduce the risk by
worming the dog. That option is not available when wild foxes are
defecating extensively on a domestic lawn played on by a small child.
In light of her more recent post though it now seems that the poo is not
just on the lawn but covers several acres of her land. She might need to
section off a lawn for her child to roll about on and keep it free of all
kinds of things. Perhaps she needs to think about erecting some kind of roof
or canopy too as pigeons and other wild birds carry some rather unpleasant
diseases too including psittacosis and salmonella and surely they will be
pooing on the lawn too.