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

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

#331

Post by rainbowzootsuit » Sat, May 30, 2020, 4:31 AM UTC

dota_fanatic wrote: post #310

rainbowzootsuit wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was once in a hand to hand struggle with a pit bull that attacked another smaller dog. At least three bystanders took part simultaneously in kicking and punching the pit bull to get it to release the smaller dog. The only way to dissuade the pit, after what was at least a couple of minutes of this and with the smaller dog being disemboweled, was that I stabbed the pit bull in the neck with my pocket knife. Their ph…

No respected dog behaviorist would ever advise kicking, punching, or stabbing to break up a dog fight regardless of breed. Y’all made it worse.

We decidedly did not make it worse.

The smaller ~20lbs dog was being courageously held onto by its owner underneath both dogs for the entire ~fight~ mauling to prevent it from being taken away and killed by the ~100lbs pit bull. I didn't see in that situation that I had time to consult with a respected behaviorist and get into the dog's upbringing, give it some positive reinforcement, tummy rubs, and treats, but I did finally get its attention.

Stabbing the pit bull ended the attack within seconds. My intent was to kill it at that point, but I was unsuccessful. That is my only regret in the situation.

Another bystander took the small dog and its owner to the pet hospital in her car where emergency surgery saved its life.

I'm not sure the eventual fate of the pit bull but I know that it was turned over to the custody of the local SPCA and the owner was given some type of citation.

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

#332

Post by jjnoakes » Sat, May 30, 2020, 4:37 AM UTC

IgorPartola wrote: post #317

richard_todd wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably some women would have had an exam in February but developed enough cancer to be visible in March, so delaying a couple of months had a huge positive impact on their outcome. How can we measure the net result of all these variables?

The way you measure it is how the GP defined it: percent women who develop early stage breast cancer per month * number of months closed per year.

That only makes sense if a woman gets screened monthly, which they don't.

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

#333

Post by shlant » Sat, May 30, 2020, 4:47 AM UTC

peter_d_sherman wrote: post #329

>"But the deadliest animal in the world, in terms of how many people it kills every year, is by far the mosquito. As nicely illustrated in an infographic by gatesnotes, mosquitoes kill at least 725,000 persons every year" And yet, we never seem to hear this fact on the News... Yet we do get stories of the form "X killed Y people", where X is some person/group/phenomenon, and Y And usually, Y is not just less, but sev…

"And yet, we never seem to hear this fact on the News..."

Most likely because A. it disproportionally impacts poorer people in far-off countries and B. It's harder to sell as an enemy/scapegoat compared to other humans/groups/foods/illnesses

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

#334

Post by philliphaydon » Sat, May 30, 2020, 4:50 AM UTC

refurb wrote: post #284

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.

Sorry to hear. I wonder if this sort of thing is due to people not using travel agencies anymore? Before I started buying my own tickets I would go to the travel agency (in NZ) and depending on where I flew they always had a list of recommendation vaccines and such that I should take before going.

I don't know if travel agencies act similar outside of NZ.

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

#335

Post by richardw » Sat, May 30, 2020, 4:54 AM UTC

I think it would take a lot of mosquitoes to take down a human.

> True, this tiny insect does not do the job on its own. What makes it so dangerous is its capacity to transmit viruses or other parasites that cause devastating diseases.

If you catch Covid-19 from a kiss, we don’t say the other person killed you. We firmly blame the disease not the person who transmits it. “Well your honor, Sally didn’t do it on her own, it was her capacity to transmit viruses or other parasites. But mostly her.”

These all seem communicable, but we don’t blame humans:

“Lower respiratory infections remained the most deadly communicable disease, causing 3.0 million deaths worldwide in 2016. The death rate from diarrhoeal diseases decreased by almost 1 million between 2000 and 2016, but still caused 1.4 million deaths in 2016. Similarly, the number of tuberculosis deaths decreased during the same period, but is still among the top 10 causes with a death toll of 1.3 million. HIV/AIDS is no longer among the world’s top 10 causes of death, having killed 1.0 million people in 2016 compared with 1.5 million in 2000.”

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-...

Yes if you infect someone intentionally that’s different, but the mosquito isn’t trying to kill you.

From the article:

> (humans by the way are second behind the mosquito, causing 475,000 deaths every year)

If it’s not humans killing when we transmit, then it’s not mosquitoes. If the transmitter is involved then humans crush mosquitoes.

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

#336

Post by ping_pong » Sat, May 30, 2020, 4:56 AM UTC

kerkeslager wrote: post #311

ping_pong wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lol why do people keep associating this with COVID-19? Nowhere did I mention COVID-19. Hydroxychloroquine is primarily an anti-malaria drug, which the article is about.

> lol why do people keep associating this with COVID-19? Because: 1. The article doesn't mention hydroxychloroquine and 2. Hydroxychloroquine is being touted as a cure to Covid 19, a claim that has its basis in politics, not science. Part of the claim being made is exactly the (wrong) claim you were defending: that hydroxychloroquine is safe--as if safe/unsafe were a binary. If you go from an article about malaria to…

Wrong.

It is safe. It is provably safe. Period. End of sentence. No qualifications. Many people take it daily for various diseases for long periods of time. Is it safe for everyone? No. No drug is safe for everyone. But for the majority it is safe. Go do the research, which you haven't based on what you're saying.

This has nothing to do about Trump, and I don't care what he says. I do care what the FDA and CDC have to say, and I have bothered to actually research this deeply.

You may not want to believe science, and you want to follow your political/religious beliefs that hydroxychloroquine is a dangerous drug, so go ahead. Don't believe for one second that you're following science. There are other posts in this thread from people who have taken the drug daily, and there's research from other non-white countries (which you probably will discount). The FDA considers it safe. The CDC considers it safe. Canada considers it safe. India considers it safe. Every country safely prescribes its use for malaria, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. The study that said it was unsafe has been heavily criticized. If you don't want to follow science, then that's fine, but at least realize that you aren't following it. Don't pretend that you are when really you're just following politics and your own beliefs.

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

#337

Post by ping_pong » Sat, May 30, 2020, 4:57 AM UTC

lenkite wrote: post #304

DanBC wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CDC also said it shouldn't be used for covid unless it was in a hospital, as part of a clinical trial. They said this because it is dangerous. Currently CDC refers to NIH for advice about using Hydroxychloroquine: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/therapeutic-op... https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/whats-new/ > Chloroquine/Hydroxychloroquine: > The Panel recommends against using high-dose chl…

Considered safe here in India and being taken by millions of people. High dosages should be avoided by people with heart trouble/high blood pressure.

It appears these people are motivated by politics and not science. There's no point in telling them what other countries such as India believe, because it doesn't fit with their world view that "everything Trump says is wrong". I'm not even a Trump supporter but the fact is that it is a safe drug, but they appear to not follow science but rather politics.

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

#338

Post by rurban » Sat, May 30, 2020, 5:03 AM UTC

ZitchDog wrote: post #305

samcheng wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to this New York Times article from the beginning of May, excess deaths in the United States outpaced official Coronavirus reporting by 33%. This obviously varies significantly by country. Certainly many more people are dying at home than previous years. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/05/us/coronaviru... The key phrase if you want to learn more is "excess deaths"

My understanding is that excess deaths statistic would also COVID deaths. You'd need to subtract COVID deaths from excess deaths. (and be certain that all COVID deaths are reported as such...)

Not really COVID deaths, you have to seperate them from the lockdown deaths.

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

#339

Post by rurban » Sat, May 30, 2020, 5:04 AM UTC

paulsutter wrote: post #208

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?)

What makes you think mosquitos are deliberately spreading malaria?

There were several interviews on CNN. Apparently some mosquitos do talk to press.

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

#340

Post by EE84M3i » Sat, May 30, 2020, 5:22 AM UTC

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 googled some but I can't find good information on freshwater snails? Some of the results reference cone snails, but those seem to be marine. How do snails kill people?