The importance of this subject is underestimated and applies as well quite independently of whether humans eat the insects directly or not. Consider the cuban tree frog for example, which has long since initiated its campaign in Florida to host and spread throughout the food chain the rat lungworm nematode. Rat lungworm (angiostrongylus) holds its own in the burgeoning presence of hideous and hostile parasites. It is highly infectious to many species and no picky eater, as it favors the entire body of the host, the brain and all. Burmese pythons are another up and coming host in Florida, and while they might prefer a provincial life in the everglades, many other species will meander north and onward. There are other nasties from nematodes to cestodes and more, gaining new ground. Baylisascaris procyonis is another terrible nematode found almost anywhere in the US, mostly in racoons, but in other species (humans included) with more varying and less frequency and it's often incurable. A study showed that, if I remember correctly, 40 out of 250 wildlife rehabilitation personnel had been exposed, but symptoms varied by exposure load. Both rat lungworm and baylis ascaris are resistant to environmental elements that normally break things down, with baylis even surviving UV light, formaldehyde and extreme cold. Rat lungworm can be deposited on surfaces (eg vegetables), and snails are common vectors. Lungworm is very difficult to remove by washing while baylis is so adhesive that wildlife control authorities advise disposing of rather than washing shovels or tools exposed to racoon latrines. The list goes merrily along with other nasties, but it would require time to refresh my memory and accurately describe more.
Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)
261–270 of 495 posts
Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)
#262Earlier quoted context omitted.
I thought the generally accepted science was that humans can learn disgust reactions socially, so that they are more adaptable on a non-evolutionary timescale. > The disgust system is a psychological mechanism for producing pathogen avoidant behaviour [10–12]. In previous work, we have stressed the universality of disgust, showing that there is much that is similar about disgust responses between animals and humans,…
There's a strong cultural component when it comes to disgust. People in many parts of the world eat insects regularly as a part of their standard diets. In the US, most people don't think of honey or lobster (aquatic arthropod) or carmine (red food coloring) as "insect food" but these items most definitely fit in that category and are commonly consumed. In the past, people in the west found yogurt, sushi, and lobster…
Those same populations have much higher parasitic infections as well. That's the whole point of the study on which we are commenting.
Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)
#263Earlier quoted context omitted.
Weirdly chicken is dangerous to eat undercooked or raw, but there aren't as many cultural taboos against it.
Were chickens present in the cultures 2000 years ago when the taboos developed? Honest question.
Yes, they were. Chickens are one of the oldest domesticated species by humans.
Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)
#264If insects were such a valuable and risk free source of nutrition wouldn't we see a lot more human cultures eating them? They've been around forever, but somehow we share a mostly common disgust for eating bugs. Is it farfetched to assume that perhaps that disgust allowed us to survive.
That's simply not true. The UN FAO estimates that 2B people worldwide consume terrestrial insects regularly in their diets. Add in aquatic insects like shrimp or lobster and that number increases drastically.
Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)
#265As an owner of a reptile this study has another angle for me. The insects tested are all classic reptile food and aside from some creatures being illegal to import or breed the production and selling of edible insects for animals seems pretty unregulated. Every producer claims their bugs are all parasite free so seeing ~80% actually do have parasites is alarming.
I wonder why Dubia Roaches weren't included. Arguably, one of the most popular feeders for pet reptiles and arachnids.
Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)
#266Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's still not economical to test e.g. every single pig for roundworms, especially since they do not create clinical symptoms in these hosts and a direct test is rather expensive. But they can pose a significant risk to humans who eat undercooked pork and in the past about 5 percent of Americans were estimated to be infected at any given time. This has only gone down thanks to modern production standards that elimina…
I've read a medical research paper about the resurgence of some nasty parasitic disease in Israel with the breakdown by religious community[1]. Turns what? The stricter the dietary laws for the community were - the less infections occurred. And we're talking about sheep here, which is similar in size to pig. There are might be a confounding variables here though, i.e. some communities are mostly urban, others are mor…
> they used 4 different religions there, but I won't name them in order to not offend anyone.
Eh? Given the location, I'd assume Jewish (Orthodox), Muslim, Jewish (Non-Orthodox), Christian, in descending order of dietary rule strictness. Not sure how that would offend anyone; the applicable dietary rules are hardly a secret.
Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)
#267I’ve wondered about this for a few years so this is extremely gratifying to read. I’ll have to go in deeper later to really understand the implications of each parasite, but my main takeaway is that my intuition here was way off. I expected insects to pose far fewer risks from parasites to humans. I wouldn’t have taken a chance based on that assumption, and cooking bugs seems like it would eliminate most of these pat…
> cooking bugs seems like it would eliminate most of these pathogens
I prefer everything I eat to be properly cooked. I even usually avoid raw vegetables. I can't imagine eating a raw bug on purpose unless it was for a lot of money and I could chase it with a shot of hard liquor afterward.
Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)
#268Earlier quoted context omitted.
There will always be some cultures that are different from the norm. 100% uniformity in human culture is very rare. But look across the globe: I would posit that a large percentage of humans have a taboo against insect consumption. If there are any counter examples that you can state from the world one must analyze how numerically large that community is within that country and the world. In other words, don't count…
I don't think taboos are in anyway useful in determining health implications. For example, are dogs or horses in any way materially worse than cows or sheep for people to eat? Why are the French happy to eat frogs and snails? I'm reasonably certain the idea of certain food being taboo is almost completely due to cultural norms.
That’s more ethics than disgust. If you synthesised a dog/horse steak. I’d, try it. If you synthesised a bug, I still wouldn’t want it.
Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)
#269Earlier quoted context omitted.
Anything to do with eating any meat can be dangerous. We don't know why religions banned certain meat. Anthropologists etc give us post facto rationalisations, and, to my mind, even the holy books might be retrospective excuses.
Chicken is less dangerous than pork. I am not going to get involved in a religious argument, but I didn't mention it was the only reason, I said it was one of the reasons.
This simply isn’t true. From a health as well as safety standpoint, chicken correlates with worth health outcomes and definitely leads to more illnesses.
Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)
#270Earlier quoted context omitted.
Weirdly chicken is dangerous to eat undercooked or raw, but there aren't as many cultural taboos against it.
Because it's not as dangerous as eating raw pork. Relatively speaking, raw pork is much more dangerous.
The data doesn’t back this up though. More people get sick from chicken.