Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Zika Infection May Affect Adult Brain Cells

newswire.rockefeller.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 75 posts

Re: Zika Infection May Affect Adult Brain Cells

#41

Post by nsxwolf »

will_brown wrote: post #28
kbenson wrote: post #9

So, I know disrupting ecologies can have profound consequences that aren't obvious ahead of time, but let's do a thought experiment. Let's assume we have a 100% effective way to kill all mosquitoes within 18-24 months. What are the known disruptions and consequences of this? Do we have ways to combat problems due to that? What are the probable/theoretical distuptions and consequences? Do we have have to combat these?…

Beyond your question of ecological impact of killing all mosquitoes, as others mentioned they don't all need to be killed. Historically, South Florida engaged in annual mosquitoe controlling campaigns. Essentially aerial spraying during the Summer. These were stopped because of the budget cuts related to the collapse of the Florida housing market. Not only did the mosquitoes become intolerable, but before Zika we had…

When the tourism industry screams loudly enough they will find the cash for the spraying.

Re: Zika Infection May Affect Adult Brain Cells

#42

Post by pond_lilly »

I read a comment somewhere that since humans have been eliminating biodiversity there is no one left for them to feed on but humans. Once again, with Zika we are going to do it all wrong. Nature will find the way, you will eliminate mosquitoes and something else, potentially even deadlier will fill up the niche. We have absolutely no clue what we are doing and all intricate relationships existing out there. The knee-jerk reaction to eliminate all mosquitoes or to release GMO franken-mosquitoes will have far reaching consequences no one even sees now.

Re: Zika Infection May Affect Adult Brain Cells

#43

Post by CamperBob2 »

rch wrote: post #35
CamperBob2 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything in engineering is a compromise, and ecological engineering is no different. We still do it anyway. We get to do it because we're humans, and the other species aren't. It is not reasonable to demand assurances of complete safety, or freedom from all possible adverse consequences, before taking action in defense of our own species.

> We get to do it because we're humans, and the other species aren't. Beavers get to do a little ecological engineering now and again.

True, and I'll bet they don't feel especially guilty about it.

Re: Zika Infection May Affect Adult Brain Cells

#44

Post by rch »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #43
rch wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We get to do it because we're humans, and the other species aren't. Beavers get to do a little ecological engineering now and again.

True, and I'll bet they don't feel especially guilty about it.

I bet coral is starting to wonder what it did wrong.

Re: Zika Infection May Affect Adult Brain Cells

#45

Post by PhasmaFelis »

kbenson wrote: post #9

So, I know disrupting ecologies can have profound consequences that aren't obvious ahead of time, but let's do a thought experiment. Let's assume we have a 100% effective way to kill all mosquitoes within 18-24 months. What are the known disruptions and consequences of this? Do we have ways to combat problems due to that? What are the probable/theoretical distuptions and consequences? Do we have have to combat these?…

I did a bit of research a while back, and it seems like no mosquito fills a vital role in its local ecology. They pollinate flowers, but less effectively than other insects. They're prey for insectivores, but no known insectivore preys primarily on mosquitoes. Their prey doesn't usually die, so there's nothing whose numbers they're keeping down.

Re: Zika Infection May Affect Adult Brain Cells

#46

Post by fnj »

Harelin wrote: post #37
kbenson wrote: post #9

So, I know disrupting ecologies can have profound consequences that aren't obvious ahead of time, but let's do a thought experiment. Let's assume we have a 100% effective way to kill all mosquitoes within 18-24 months. What are the known disruptions and consequences of this? Do we have ways to combat problems due to that? What are the probable/theoretical distuptions and consequences? Do we have have to combat these?…

Is it possible that mosquitoes spread beneficial pathogens among humans, in addition to the deadly pathogens they are known for? The concept of overprotective parents preventing their children from building their immune system comes to mind.

Since the definitions of pathogen is not just "microorganism", but "microorganism that can cause disease", the idea of "beneficial pathogen" appears to be a contradiction in terms.

That said, hormesis is a conceivable factor.

Re: Zika Infection May Affect Adult Brain Cells

#47

Post by kapitza »

jamescostian wrote: post #17
roywiggins wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't even need to kill all mosquitos, just the ones that bite humans and carry disease. South America actually did manage to nearly eradicate Aedes aegypti, though the success was short lived. Aedes aegypti is not even native to South America- it's African. So eliminating it from the New World can't do that much damage given that the ecosystem got along fine before it arrived.

> Aedes aegypti is not even native to South America- it's African. So eliminating it from the New World can't do that much damage given that the ecosystem got along fine before it arrived. This logic may have been applicable way back when the first few Aedes aegypti made their way to the New World, but at this point, so much has changed in our New World, and we don't really know all the ecological changes that Aedes…

Some of them, I assume, are good mosquitoes. But who's doing the biting? Somebody's doing the biting!

We need to build a net. They have to go back!

Re: Zika Infection May Affect Adult Brain Cells

#48

Post by Harelin »

fnj wrote: post #46
Harelin wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it possible that mosquitoes spread beneficial pathogens among humans, in addition to the deadly pathogens they are known for? The concept of overprotective parents preventing their children from building their immune system comes to mind.

Since the definitions of pathogen is not just "microorganism", but "microorganism that can cause disease", the idea of "beneficial pathogen" appears to be a contradiction in terms. That said, hormesis is a conceivable factor.

Yes. What if mosquitoes inoculate us (and/or other animals) against diseases during childhood? Absent mosquitoes, I wonder if we would become more vulnerable to those diseases entering our systems through other vectors.

Re: Zika Infection May Affect Adult Brain Cells

#49

Post by CamperBob2 »

rch wrote: post #44
CamperBob2 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, and I'll bet they don't feel especially guilty about it.

I bet coral is starting to wonder what it did wrong.

Hard to see what relevance that has to mosquito eradication. Evidence suggests we've done a lot of harm to coral ecosystems around the world, but not as a result of the careful study and consideration that we're applying to the idea of wiping out certain harmful mosquito species.

Re: Zika Infection May Affect Adult Brain Cells

#50

Post by advertising »

kbenson wrote: post #9

So, I know disrupting ecologies can have profound consequences that aren't obvious ahead of time, but let's do a thought experiment. Let's assume we have a 100% effective way to kill all mosquitoes within 18-24 months. What are the known disruptions and consequences of this? Do we have ways to combat problems due to that? What are the probable/theoretical distuptions and consequences? Do we have have to combat these?…

They did this in Brasil decades back. Mandatory home inspections where they had patrols go through every single house and eliminate water pools where mosquitos could breed, mostly all made by humans.

I believe the eliminated mosquitos for a certain period of time but this technique didn't work in the states because Americans were adverse to government agencies coming into their homes and telling them what do to.

Post reply on HN