Mosquitoes kill more than 700k people every year (2017) • Hacker News Board

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

#281

Post by gen220 » Sat, May 30, 2020, 1:24 AM UTC

barkingcat wrote: post #230

tomohawk wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The dog attacks are really more about dogs that have rabies. In countries that have good rabies control this is not an issue. For example, the US has 30 - 50 deaths due to dogs each year.

North American and Western European audiences don't realise that while 1 dog can only sometimes hurt you, a pack of 8-10 non-rabid dogs can hunt an adult human down and kill them easily. In countries around the world, it's more about packs of wild dogs and rabies, instead of just rabies alone. Countries/Regions that have wild dog pack problems: India, Some Eastern European countries, South East Asia (almost all peopl…

My father grew up in rural India, has zero faith in dogs, and always carries a wooden cane on his daily walks to this day.

Growing up, I was ashamed that my dad was so scared of dogs, but the dogs he grew up around were incredibly violent and unpredictable compared to the domestics we’re so accustomed to here in the States. I think he and his brothers raised a puppy they found in the village, and it bit him pretty terribly when it grew up, so he has zero trust for animals. And he’s the most rational man I know, so it was weird to see him carry this memory so strongly into his 50s and 60s.

I don’t think he’s ever used it before (he lives in the Bay Area), but he’ll literally turn back from 5 blocks away if he realizes he’s forgotten it. I guess I’m trying to say: these kinds of environments are really traumatizing, and you should totally believe what the parent is saying. It’s a different world out there.

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

#282

Post by ping_pong » Sat, May 30, 2020, 1:26 AM UTC

kerkeslager wrote: post #119

ping_pong wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 reaction…

> I don't know why you connected what I said with anything to do with COVID-19. Well, I'm just gonna quote that so you can't change it.

The original article is about malaria and mosquitoes, so feel free to quote me as extensively as you would like.

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

#283

Post by dpbriggs » Sat, May 30, 2020, 1:30 AM UTC

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #252

yyyk wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is very well studied - Mosquitoes are an invading species in most areas; Only a few subspecies are harmful to humans, and they'll be replaced by similar mosquitoes that aren't. Besides, there's a very wide gap between what the West is and was willing to do when an infectious disease happens. When Malaria hit the West, we drained entire swamps (and their ecosystems) without a second though. When corona hits,…

There is a lot of hidden racism and colonialism in a lot of environmentalism. Basically, the West developed and rid itself of a lot of disease and predators. But if developing countries try to do this, all sorts of “environmental” objections are raised. I have even heard people say that mosquito borne illnesses are good because they keep people in poor nations from expanding into “pristine” forests. Basically, if the…

> racism and colonialism

I don't disagree with you at all, I am just not sure how these concepts are related. Xenophobia?

You're absolutely right that western nations developed by radically altering environments. There's a certain sort of hypocrisy with environmentalists lobbying developing nations. I remember an elementary school trip about DDT and how it affected local peregrine falcon populations.

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

#284

Post by refurb » Sat, May 30, 2020, 1:33 AM UTC

bradam wrote: post #231

One of my classmates came back from Africa to Europe this March without any symptoms. 10 days later she got high fever, dizziness, and unfortunately she could not even recognise her family. Everyone thought its COVID, and doctors recommended her to stay home to not spread the "virus". Unfortunately when she got the the hospital, the diagnostics was too late to and she died in malaria 1,5 days later. Please beware of…

I had a friend who was attending Stanford. He did a class trip to Africa, then back to the US. He also started to feel ill (but not too bad), so decided to fly home for winter break. He died of malaria on the flight to London. He was only 32 years old.

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

#285

Post by lazyasciiart » Sat, May 30, 2020, 1:34 AM UTC

lutorm wrote: post #276

djsumdog wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was an Oncologist who was talking about how the number of women coming in for regular exams was non-existent for two months. A few months is enough time for breast cancer to go from stage 1 to stage 2, and for 5 year survival rates to drop by a third[0]. There are going to be a ton of secondary effects due to prematurely closing or clearing out hospitals and clinics, and many people have already died from compl…

A few months is enough time for breast cancer to go from stage 1 to stage 2 ... Do women normally have breast exams every few months?

No. It varies by age or location but it'd be once a year at max - unless perhaps you had already had it or for some other reason were extraordinarily high risk.

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

#286

Post by eganist » Sat, May 30, 2020, 1:35 AM UTC

grawprog wrote: post #250

bradam wrote: post #231

One of my classmates came back from Africa to Europe this March without any symptoms. 10 days later she got high fever, dizziness, and unfortunately she could not even recognise her family. Everyone thought its COVID, and doctors recommended her to stay home to not spread the "virus". Unfortunately when she got the the hospital, the diagnostics was too late to and she died in malaria 1,5 days later. Please beware of…

Makes you wonder how many people have actually died so far this way. Being told to stay home and not spread covid, meanwhile something else is actually terribly wrong.

The problem is that SARS-CoV-2 is so capable of infecting and disrupting a broad variety of cells that many multi-organ symptoms might manifest, so it wouldn't be a surprise if that's what's presumed to be the cause of an ailment at first considering its reproduction number.

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

#287

Post by rrmm » Sat, May 30, 2020, 1:42 AM UTC

wutbrodo wrote: post #274

grawprog wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes you wonder how many people have actually died so far this way. Being told to stay home and not spread covid, meanwhile something else is actually terribly wrong.

The ex-Covid death rate in New York is significantly above its baseline. Part of this may be undiagnosed covid deaths, but with less people out doing dangerous things, a lot of it is probably people avoiding hospitals.

ex-Covid rate is more likely due to undiagnosed covid. Especially when you look at the excess death rate compared to previous annual rates. (at least last time I looked at the graphs).

But regardless none of it is any good for anyone.

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

#288

Post by wolco » Sat, May 30, 2020, 1:43 AM UTC

freedomben wrote: post #263

grawprog wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes you wonder how many people have actually died so far this way. Being told to stay home and not spread covid, meanwhile something else is actually terribly wrong.

It's terrifying. A friend of a friend of my wife just lost her baby. It was something that would have been easily seen in a routine screening, but because of COVID the OB/GYN wasn't having patients come to the office. It's heart breaking.

Are you saying she wouldn't have lost the baby if she had a routine screen or it would have given her the ability to deal with the issue a litle bit easier by planning a dnc?

I've been part of many miscarriages and doctors can tell you something is wrong but rarely can they fix anything before 12 weeks.

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

#289

Post by perl4ever » Sat, May 30, 2020, 1:43 AM UTC

lutorm wrote: post #276

djsumdog wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was an Oncologist who was talking about how the number of women coming in for regular exams was non-existent for two months. A few months is enough time for breast cancer to go from stage 1 to stage 2, and for 5 year survival rates to drop by a third[0]. There are going to be a ton of secondary effects due to prematurely closing or clearing out hospitals and clinics, and many people have already died from compl…

A few months is enough time for breast cancer to go from stage 1 to stage 2 ... Do women normally have breast exams every few months?

I don't understand where you'd get that implication.

Some presumably fairly predictable fraction would have an exam scheduled during the beginning of the epidemic, and a certain fraction of them would have undiagnosed cancer. It seems reasonable to assume significant negative consequences for those people.

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

#290

Post by perl4ever » Sat, May 30, 2020, 1:52 AM UTC

bredren wrote: post #187

derefr wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?)

It doesn’t have to be this abstract, though. This will likely change in the next 20 years. Consider the move from horse drawn carriages to vehicles. It was an acceptable risk that anyone might be permanently disabled due to being kicked in the head or trampled by a horse. This might be a horse you are simply walking past. Or one that is spooked and running down the street. The owner of the horse beared little to no r…

I'm not sure if you are equating horses and cars or not. Are you saying the risk of either is unacceptable?

I don't know if horses were statistically more or less dangerous than cars, but I feel like when I read about a random historical figure from before cars it's pretty common they died from a riding accident.

Today, horses are allowed on public streets and not regarded as particularly deadly, at least in my locale. In particular, the police ride them during public events.

I have, on occasion, ridden a horse, a bicycle, a motorcycle, driven a car, and ridden in planes. The only time I was seriously injured was on a bicycle.