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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)

#171

Post by the_af »

acdha wrote: post #99
the_af wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where I live we're concurrently experiencing, besides COVID19, a dengue fever outbreak. Dengue fever is spread by mosquitoes -- specifically, Aedes Aegypti. Dengue is way more serious than COVID19. Particularly worrisome, having had dengue makes subsequent reinfections more life-threatening, not less. There are ways to eradicate the mosquito -- mainly getting rid of small clear water containers near/within your home,…

> we still don't do it until it's too late and becomes a problem. A single neighbor who doesn't do this endangers the whole block. And the authorities don't give a fuck. It's infuriating, really. You seem to be strangely unaware of the large amount of money which has been spent for decades on mosquito control by individuals and all levels of government. There are widespread control campaigns, active research into dev…

> You seem to be strangely unaware of the large amount of money which has been spent for decades on mosquito control by individuals and all levels of government.

Which government are you talking about? I don't live in the US and you linked to EPA and Yale. I can tell you my government is doing very little to combat dengue fever, and when they do, it's too little, too late.

> widespread control campaigns [...] community awareness

There's very little of that. And one careless neighbor effectively endangers the whole apartment block.

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

#172

Post by fein »

cryptoquick wrote: post #138
7leafer wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So am I, my friend.

Your pushback against the HN downvoter cowards, especially when you've questioned the status quo and planted a seed of dissent against the grain, is quite appreciated by this particular HN user. Honestly, I find the dialogue here toxic and coarse, and I'm sure I'm a part of that, too. Ideally I'd just delete my account, and never come back... But HN won't allow me to delete my account, so, in spite, I'll keep coming…

Years ago it wasn't like this, and I recall reading mostly hardcore tech nerdery on here.

Now... I don't even know. HN and Reddit are pretty well useless, and the only thing that keeps me around Reddit are automotive and industrial/machining subs. Seems strange that it was only 8 years ago.

Member when HN was overwhelmingly pro meritocracy? I member.

I really miss reading King Terry's diatribes in showdead. You'd probably be outright banned for that on here now.

I don't think people downvoted as much back then either.

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

#173

Post by smabie »

nkozyra wrote: post #53
epicureanideal wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> it wouldn’t actually be a big problem like some say Well this is the law of unintended consequences in action. Many people don't think it will have any negative effect but we don't know. Nature is extraordinarily complex and disrupting it in such a huge way almost always carries knock-on impact.

Saying we are too stupid to ever know anything is a pretty anti-scientific attitude. Maybe global warming is gonna make the world so much better, after all, we don't really know anything. It's impossible to actually live your life if you just throw your hands up and say "we don't know".

What we do know is that mosquitos have killed more humans than probably anything else ever. Shouldn't that be impetus enough to actually do something about it? Of course, the problem is made worse by the fact that the people who are advocating against doing anything aren't the people that mosquitos are killing. If you knew a lot of people who had died from Malaria, you might be singing a different tune.

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

#174

Post by agumonkey »

cameronfraser wrote: post #36
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...

Poor sharks, they get one of the worst raps for how little damage they do to humans. I'm surprised to see dogs so high up on that list.

That's just like flight safety records.. the issue with sharks is that when something happens you're 99% about to lose a limb or life.

You run into mosquitoes 30k times a year, one of them may kill you, and most of the time you could have saved yourself on your own.

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

#175

Post by agumonkey »

holbue wrote: post #158
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...

you mean farmed animals or wild ones ?

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

#176

Post by smabie »

tempestn wrote: post #168
clairity wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you know that the most effective preventative for mosquito bites are mosquito nets, like staying inside, with screens on your windows and doors, right?

And people who live in areas where malaria is common do use nets and screens as much as possible. Unlike many people in western countries though, they don't have the luxury of locking themselves down indefinitely. Nor do they have the same expectation that the measures would only need to be temporary.

> And people who live in areas where malaria is common do use nets and screens as much as possible.

Ehh, not exactly. I used to live in Africa, parts where there were tstsi flies and mosquitos. Despite being given nets by the Gates foundation, people rarely used them. Well, some used them as hair nets, others through them away because their pastors convinced them their purpose was to sterilize the African people, etc etc.

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

#177

Post by derefr »

morsch wrote: post #160
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)

The human category is limited, I believe, to intentional killing. Otherwise you open up a whole can of worms about macroeconomic trolley problems. (Am I killing people right now by making insufficiently-optimal donations to charity?)

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

#179

Post by JoeAltmaier »

tempestn wrote: post #166
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #121

So, Covid is on track to beat this, sadly.

Yes, but mosquitos kill that many every single year. Look at the reaction to COVID-19 compared to the amount of effort going into eliminating mosquito-borne disease. There's certainly some, but it's far from the mobilization we see when a calamity on this scale hits rich countries.

Maybe that's cause-and-effect turned around? We stifled our economy and mobilize a million researchers, because we can afford to and have the will. It'll cost us in the end.

What do folks in malaria country do? Scavenge their childrens' mosquito nets to catch fish etc. Reject modern medicine and go to the local quack. Foul their water supplies and poach their endangered species.

I know, we can have all the morals we can afford. But some large-scale coordinated actions require a populace that is educated and willing.

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

#180

Post by brenden2 »

derefr wrote: post #177
morsch wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

The human category is limited, I believe, to intentional killing. Otherwise you open up a whole can of worms about macroeconomic trolley problems. (Am I killing people right now by making insufficiently-optimal donations to charity?)

Presumably if you're speeding or driving while intoxicated, you're doing so intentionally. It's not as if someone is forcing you to drive too fast or too drunk. These things (especially speeding) dramatically increase the likelihood of being in a collision.
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