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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)

#151

Post by JoeAltmaier »

jacobr1 wrote: post #137
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm thinking, that data is more of a heat-map of interactions. Any human interaction with a shark in its environment, shark wins. So as a per-capita, they might be near 100%?

I'm not sure. Plenty of people swim in waters where sharks are regularly observed. And still the attacks are low. And further, with many attacks, I think in particular great-whites, they back off after the first bite, which allows for much greater survivability. So the ratio of "shark contact" to "sharks win" is probably low. And if you also add in fishing for sharks (such as for fins) humans probably kill a lot more…

Hm. Not convinced. Contact with sharks vs contact with mosquitoes, or with dogs, or anything else on that list?

Most people spend maybe hours a year in shark ecosystem. Vs 365 days a year in dog country, or mosquito etc.

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

#152

Post by jacobr1 »

graeme wrote: post #59
ahelwer wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

That's true. But, by what plausible mechanism could this project switch from killing one species of mosquito to killing all of them? There's no way it would happen via natural selection. The mosquito is engineered to die. The project has to keep releasing new genetically engineered mosquitos to mate with females. I totally get the idea that removing all mosquitos would likely lead to spiralling ecosystem collapse, an…

One idea: killing one specious could cause some kind of "trophic cascade" style impact. Such as, imagine that current preditor (B) of the targeted species (A) adapts to target an alternate species (C) and is a more efficient predator wiping them out. But then usual preditor of (C) species (D) has now lost is food source and dies off, as do species that depend upon it, maybe in indirect ways, like its excrement is needed to fertilize certain plant species and then other animals dependant upon that plant are impacted and so on and so on.

Note: I think these types of scenarios are unlikely and am in favor of the eradication programs (though I do think we should have smaller-scale trials not just to validate efficacy but also to understand unintended impacts). But we have observed these types of impacts. It isn't just a crazy idea. But nature also seems to me to quite adaptable.

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

#154

Post by throwanem »

jki275 wrote: post #150
throwanem wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A series of extraordinary claims, for which you don't care to provide any support whatsoever. Okay. I did, with a little effort, find a single source [1] for your "DDT didn't harm birds" claim. Of course, he's [2] also a climate denier, a conspiracy theorist, and a lobbyist for companies whose financial interests are coincidentally in total alignment with his "scientific" advocacy. But hey, if that's the company you…

You didn't look very hard: https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-truth-about-...

Zubrin's fine, if excessively Golden Age of Science Fiction for my taste, when he talks about Mars. Earth, not so much. But, again, if you want to keep company with someone who's super excited about anthropogenic climate change, likens mosquitoes to Nazi V-2s, and alludes with crafty dissimulation to the conspiracy theory around environmentalism that forms the backbone of such sober documentaries as "Kingsman: The Secret Service" (2014), go for it.

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

#155

Post by jointpdf »

ping_pong wrote: post #111
jointpdf wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think replying with a sardonic “Wrong.” and then making an unsubstantiated claim made it pretty clear what the pretext of your comment was. But sure...I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. Regardless, no it’s not “safe beyond argument”. Let’s try again. FDA: > ”Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine: - should be used for COVID-19 only when patients can be appropriately monitored in the hospital as required by the EUA…

Your reference conflates hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to try to prove your point. Chloroquiine is a different drug with stronger side effects, which I explicitly mentioned. How about finding information about hydroxychlorquine on its own? This is from the FDA itself: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2007/00... I suggest you actually try to do some deeper research besides just reading politic…

Ah, so the sources that don’t fit your narrative are “politicized”, yet others (from the same entity) are not? What a convenient pattern of thought.

I read the document you linked to, and it outlines the potential risks and side effects of the medication and clearly specified that it should be administered with the supervision of a doctor. This adds evidentiary weight against your original claim that it is “safer than acetaminophen” (which yes, is also dangerous if misused), and you still haven’t provided any evidence whatsoever for that claim. I’ll wait.

All drugs have risks and benefits. Some of those risks can be magnified in nonlinear ways based on many potential interactions, which is why people should rely on medical advice from their doctors, and should fully ignore opinions from ping_pong.

For some uses, the benefits outweigh the risks. Context matters. Is grapefruit juice safe? It depends. In combination with some medications, it can kill you.

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

#156

Post by hobs »

Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #46
hobs wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

You know, I am not 100% sure, the time beforehand is pretty foggy and they both have an m name it makes me question the memory... it was many years ago.

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

#157

Post by gnulinux »

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?

> Wonder if those Murder Hornets will make next year's list?

I was curious, so:

> Since 2001, the yearly human death toll caused by stings of bees, wasps and hornets in Japan has been ranging between 12 and 26.[26] Since this number also includes deaths caused by wasps, bees, and other hornet species, the number of deaths caused by Asian giant hornets is likely to be significantly lower.[citation needed]

from:

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

[26] is a Japanese source that I cannot read.

Seems like they're not a huge threat?

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

#158

Post by holbue »

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...

Would love to see statistics from the other perspective: Which animals are killed most by humans? Besides insects, I would guess fish and chicken are quite high...

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

#159

Post by graeme »

jacobr1 wrote: post #152
graeme wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's true. But, by what plausible mechanism could this project switch from killing one species of mosquito to killing all of them? There's no way it would happen via natural selection. The mosquito is engineered to die. The project has to keep releasing new genetically engineered mosquitos to mate with females. I totally get the idea that removing all mosquitos would likely lead to spiralling ecosystem collapse, an…

One idea: killing one specious could cause some kind of "trophic cascade" style impact. Such as, imagine that current preditor (B) of the targeted species (A) adapts to target an alternate species (C) and is a more efficient predator wiping them out. But then usual preditor of (C) species (D) has now lost is food source and dies off, as do species that depend upon it, maybe in indirect ways, like its excrement is nee…

I think that’s plausible, but you seem to have missed the point.

OP asked whether anyone was considering killing all mosquitos? Myself and others replied no, just this one species.

It’s indeed possible that there would be local ill effects, possibly even on other mosquitos. But I don’t see how it would affect mosquitos outside Aedes Aegypti’s habitat.

Also, the species is invasive outside of Africa. This increases the odds it could be safely eliminated in those areas.

I still agree there’s the possibility of great impacts. But I don’t think it could affect “all mosquitos”.

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

#160

Post by morsch »

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...

   0 Traffic        1,350,000
Sort of weird to limit the Human category to, apparently, conflict, war, murders, and acts of terrorism. Also, it's horrible that conflict, war, murders, and acts of terrorism are in the same ballpark as traffic deaths.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r... (2016)

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