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The World Is Closer Than Ever to Eradicating Guinea Worm

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Re: The World Is Closer Than Ever to Eradicating Guinea Worm

#11

Post by bertil »

enraged_camel wrote: post #2

Going back to the conversations we've had in the Zika thread[1], why are we OK with eliminating the Guinea Worm, but not certain species of mosquitoes? [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12322885 A lot of people in that thread made the argument that we shouldn't exterminate a species without first fully understanding the consequences. Yet we seem to be doing that here with this parasite, and no one seems to be…

Mosquitoes are an essential part of the diet of many species: birds, spiders, toads, small rodents. The assumption is that those species could find replacements, but it is still a major change.

The Guinea worm presumably does not represent a significant ecological step.

Re: The World Is Closer Than Ever to Eradicating Guinea Worm

#12

Post by bertil »

I remember a story about a worm that is extracted using a stick: the worm is presented with the stick, wrap itself around it and you can pull it out. Presumably, that image of a long animal around a stick as a healing process is what gave the caducean, the symbol to medicine of a snake around a stick.

Anyone familiar with anything like this?

Re: The World Is Closer Than Ever to Eradicating Guinea Worm

#13

Post by maxerickson »

bertil wrote: post #12

I remember a story about a worm that is extracted using a stick: the worm is presented with the stick, wrap itself around it and you can pull it out. Presumably, that image of a long animal around a stick as a healing process is what gave the caducean, the symbol to medicine of a snake around a stick. Anyone familiar with anything like this?

Wrapping it on a stick is the traditional treatment for Guinea Worm.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_of_Asclepius#Theories

Re: The World Is Closer Than Ever to Eradicating Guinea Worm

#14

Post by enraged_camel »

bertil wrote: post #11
enraged_camel wrote: post #2

Going back to the conversations we've had in the Zika thread[1], why are we OK with eliminating the Guinea Worm, but not certain species of mosquitoes? [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12322885 A lot of people in that thread made the argument that we shouldn't exterminate a species without first fully understanding the consequences. Yet we seem to be doing that here with this parasite, and no one seems to be…

Mosquitoes are an essential part of the diet of many species: birds, spiders, toads, small rodents. The assumption is that those species could find replacements, but it is still a major change. The Guinea worm presumably does not represent a significant ecological step.

>>Mosquitoes are an essential part of the diet of many species: birds, spiders, toads, small rodents. The assumption is that those species could find replacements, but it is still a major change.

According to one of the commenters in the Zika thread, who claims to have done research on the issue, there are no known species that feed primarily on mosquitoes. Therefore, eradicating them would probably not cause too much damage.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12324390

Besides, we aren't talking about eradicating all mosquitoes. Only the few species that bite humans.

Re: The World Is Closer Than Ever to Eradicating Guinea Worm

#15

Post by throw_away »

bertil wrote: post #12

I remember a story about a worm that is extracted using a stick: the worm is presented with the stick, wrap itself around it and you can pull it out. Presumably, that image of a long animal around a stick as a healing process is what gave the caducean, the symbol to medicine of a snake around a stick. Anyone familiar with anything like this?

I was not aware of this before a long trip through wikipedia (triggered because I'd never seen that word before), but there's apparently some controversy over use of the Caduceus vs the Rod of Asclepius.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caduceus_as_a_symbol_of_medici...

Basically, the US Army used it by mistake and so it's taken over in the United States, but people think that the one-snake version (RoA) is more correct. The RoA is thought to be perhaps rooted in the treatment for Guinea Worm (or else based on a magical healing snake kept by Moses).

Re: The World Is Closer Than Ever to Eradicating Guinea Worm

#16

Post by chr1 »

maxerickson wrote: post #6
enraged_camel wrote: post #2

Going back to the conversations we've had in the Zika thread[1], why are we OK with eliminating the Guinea Worm, but not certain species of mosquitoes? [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12322885 A lot of people in that thread made the argument that we shouldn't exterminate a species without first fully understanding the consequences. Yet we seem to be doing that here with this parasite, and no one seems to be…

One factor is that there is a lot less "we" involved with the Guinea Worm. I mean, good luck suppressing the knowledge that filtering your drinking water through a cloth prevents a devastating episode where a 3 foot worm crawls out of your body. The proposed programs for eradicating mosquitoes involve things like releasing millions of dollars of genetically modified mosquitoes and putting larvicides and insecticides…

Using gene drive doesn't require releasing huge number of modified mosquitos, and doesn't require larvicides.

Re: The World Is Closer Than Ever to Eradicating Guinea Worm

#17

Post by frozenport »

enraged_camel wrote: post #2

Going back to the conversations we've had in the Zika thread[1], why are we OK with eliminating the Guinea Worm, but not certain species of mosquitoes? [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12322885 A lot of people in that thread made the argument that we shouldn't exterminate a species without first fully understanding the consequences. Yet we seem to be doing that here with this parasite, and no one seems to be…

Unlike the Guinea worm, mosquitos are non-specific predators. Guinea worm can be eliminated by having a season without any humans infected, the only way to get rid of mosquitoes is to kill, every single one.

Re: The World Is Closer Than Ever to Eradicating Guinea Worm

#18

Post by TillE »

Natsu wrote: post #7
enraged_camel wrote: post #2

Going back to the conversations we've had in the Zika thread[1], why are we OK with eliminating the Guinea Worm, but not certain species of mosquitoes? [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12322885 A lot of people in that thread made the argument that we shouldn't exterminate a species without first fully understanding the consequences. Yet we seem to be doing that here with this parasite, and no one seems to be…

The fact that we've unintentionally wiped out so many species lends credence to the idea that, on average, very few individual specie are all that important. Of course, just leave it to us to find the exception someday...

And introduced destructive species like kudzu and the grey squirrel. These have results which are certainly bad, but far far away from causing any kind of catastrophic ecological collapse.
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