21–30 of 75 posts
I can't help it feel that more effort will go into mitigating Zika if adult males are at risk.
(If your point was about male privilege/priority then I don't disagree, but I don't think it's necessary to read that into this situation because the number of both male and female adult lives Zika could impact may have just grown enormously.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm guessing it's along the lines of "Zika seems to only affect pregnant women, I'm either A) not a woman or B) not planning on getting pregnant any time soon, this will all be over by then."
Zika has a number of neurological and other impacts on adults, as well as its impact on fetuses.
The effect on adults is not yet fully known (hence the OP!). This was just the first study on the topic.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You don't even need to kill all mosquitos, just the ones that bite humans and carry disease. South America actually did manage to nearly eradicate Aedes aegypti, though the success was short lived. Aedes aegypti is not even native to South America- it's African. So eliminating it from the New World can't do that much damage given that the ecosystem got along fine before it arrived.
> Aedes aegypti is not even native to South America- it's African. So eliminating it from the New World can't do that much damage given that the ecosystem got along fine before it arrived. This logic may have been applicable way back when the first few Aedes aegypti made their way to the New World, but at this point, so much has changed in our New World, and we don't really know all the ecological changes that Aedes…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You don't even need to kill all mosquitos, just the ones that bite humans and carry disease. South America actually did manage to nearly eradicate Aedes aegypti, though the success was short lived. Aedes aegypti is not even native to South America- it's African. So eliminating it from the New World can't do that much damage given that the ecosystem got along fine before it arrived.
> Aedes aegypti is not even native to South America- it's African. So eliminating it from the New World can't do that much damage given that the ecosystem got along fine before it arrived. This logic may have been applicable way back when the first few Aedes aegypti made their way to the New World, but at this point, so much has changed in our New World, and we don't really know all the ecological changes that Aedes…
Perhaps, but I don't believe anyone has demonstrated that mosquitoes have this crucial in impact to he health of the ecosystem. In fact, the aforementioned Nature article explicitly argues against that idea, though obviously it's only a sample size of 1.
I've taken to scanning the NHS's page analyzing health news stories. It's a very useful antidote to potential sensationalism: they go to the original source and summarize it fairly clearly.
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2016/08August/Pages/Animal-research-s...
So, I know disrupting ecologies can have profound consequences that aren't obvious ahead of time, but let's do a thought experiment. Let's assume we have a 100% effective way to kill all mosquitoes within 18-24 months. What are the known disruptions and consequences of this? Do we have ways to combat problems due to that? What are the probable/theoretical distuptions and consequences? Do we have have to combat these?…
Historically, South Florida engaged in annual mosquitoe controlling campaigns. Essentially aerial spraying during the Summer. These were stopped because of the budget cuts related to the collapse of the Florida housing market.
Not only did the mosquitoes become intolerable, but before Zika we had a breakout of mosquitoe transmitted Dengue fever. Moreover, the historical mosquitoe controlling never killed all mosquitoes but the were effective in preventing breakouts like Dengue Fever and Zika.
I also hear Zika reduces penis size. Some are calling it "Trump dick."
So, I know disrupting ecologies can have profound consequences that aren't obvious ahead of time, but let's do a thought experiment. Let's assume we have a 100% effective way to kill all mosquitoes within 18-24 months. What are the known disruptions and consequences of this? Do we have ways to combat problems due to that? What are the probable/theoretical distuptions and consequences? Do we have have to combat these?…