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Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017)

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Re: Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017)

#41

Post by epicureanideal »

dmix wrote: post #37
ahelwer wrote: post #32

I grew up in Manitoba so have a very healthy hatred of mosquitoes - 50 of them once followed me into a car during the https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/1120044775024013312

> anyone leaning toward the idea we should exterminate mosquitoes Is this actually a thing?

Yes, I am in favor of exterminating every last mosquito. I’d rather deal with any results than the mosquitos themselves. Also I had a long conversation with a specialist in a company working on this and they convinced me that it wouldn’t actually be a big problem like some say.

Re: Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017)

#42

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

ahelwer wrote: post #38
dmix wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> anyone leaning toward the idea we should exterminate mosquitoes Is this actually a thing?

Of course it is, very popular among the Thought Leader circuit: https://www.sciencealert.com/bill-melinda-gates-funding-scie...

Malaria and dengue are only carried by certain mosquito species. Suggestions to eliminate mosquitos through gene therapy almost always concern those specific species, not the relatively harmless (yet very annoying) mosquitos of the global north.

Re: Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017)

#43

Post by ping_pong »

jointpdf wrote: post #35
ping_pong wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wrong. Hydroxychloroquine is safer than acetaminophen. Chloroquine has much higher side effects, but they different drugs, in the same family.

Are you going to cite any actual evidence for that bold claim? Here, like this: > We were unable to confirm a benefit of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine, when used alone or with a macrolide, on in-hospital outcomes for COVID-19. Each of these drug regimens was associated with decreased in-hospital survival and an increased frequency of ventricular arrhythmias when used for treatment of COVID-19. https://www.thelanc…

Evidence for what claim? That hydroxychloroquine is safer than Tylenol?

I don't know why you connected what I said with anything to do with COVID-19. I didn't say that it helped, in fact, I think it was bad science that lead to that belief. But the fact that hydroxychloroquine is safe is beyond argument.

This is from the CDC:

Hydroxychloroquine is a relatively well tolerated medicine. The most common adverse reactions reported are stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, and headache. These side effects can often be lessened by taking hydroxychloroquine with food. Hydroxychloroquine may also cause itching in some people.

All medicines may have some side effects. Minor side effects such as nausea, occasional vomiting, or diarrhea usually do not require stopping the antimalarial drug. If you cannot tolerate your antimalarial drug, see your health care provider; other antimalarial drugs are available

Re: Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017)

#45

Post by graeme »

ahelwer wrote: post #38
dmix wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> anyone leaning toward the idea we should exterminate mosquitoes Is this actually a thing?

Of course it is, very popular among the Thought Leader circuit: https://www.sciencealert.com/bill-melinda-gates-funding-scie...

Isn’t that plan only to eliminate the specific species responsible for disease carrying? There are many mosquitos, the mosquito they’re targeting is just one.

Re: Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017)

#46

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

hobs wrote: post #3
madengr wrote: post #2

Hydroxychloroquine has been used as a malaria preventative for 60 years. Now it is suddenly unsafe?

Malarone is also a malaria preventative, and I personally had a psychotic break while taking it, it took 8 men to hold me down and strap me a bed for two days until I came to. Seems pretty harmless I guess?

The antimalarial prophylaxis which is infamous for mental-health disturbances is lariam (mefloquine). Are you sure you weren't taking that instead? When malarone appeared on the market, one of its big selling points was that it does not have the drawbacks of lariam (or doxycycline).

Re: Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017)

#47

Post by wetmore »

creaghpatr wrote: post #25
Koshkin wrote: post #18

To put this in a perspective, 1 Mosquito 1,000,000 2 Human 475,000 3 Snake 50,000 4 Dog 25,000 5 Tsetse Fly 10,000 6 Assassin Bug 10,000 7 Freshwater Snail 10,000 8 Ascaris Roundworm 2,500 9 Tapeworm 2,000 10 Crocodile 1,000 11 Hippopotamus 500 12 Elephant 100 13 Lion 100 14 Wolf 10 15 Shark 10 https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-animals-that-kill-mo...

I had never heard of Assassin bug but apparently they are all over North America. https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?... Wonder if those Murder Hornets will make next year's list?

When I was a kid at camp we used to catch them and make them fight other bugs. Those things are creepy.

Re: Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017)

#48

Post by petters »

ahelwer wrote: post #32

I grew up in Manitoba so have a very healthy hatred of mosquitoes - 50 of them once followed me into a car during the https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/1120044775024013312

The ecological systems would likely be fine; the mosquitoes responsible for diseases are a minority.

But that is beside the point and does not matter. What matters are 700,000 human lives annually.

It's tragic really. If we had these diseases in Europe or North America, we would have already done this.

Re: Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017)

#49

Post by ahelwer »

graeme wrote: post #45
ahelwer wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course it is, very popular among the Thought Leader circuit: https://www.sciencealert.com/bill-melinda-gates-funding-scie...

Isn’t that plan only to eliminate the specific species responsible for disease carrying? There are many mosquitos, the mosquito they’re targeting is just one.

Intentions don't always match outcomes when it comes to fiddling with these systems.

Re: Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017)

#50

Post by wvenable »

ahelwer wrote: post #32

I grew up in Manitoba so have a very healthy hatred of mosquitoes - 50 of them once followed me into a car during the https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/1120044775024013312

Not all mosquito species feed on humans. If we eliminate just those, there will still be thousands of other mosquito species in the environment.
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