Should We Eradicate Mosquitos?
August 19, 2016 at 8:48 pm
(This post was last modified: August 19, 2016 at 8:50 pm by Seraphina.)
Should we eradicate mosquitos? I've seen some talk of it lately. Mosquitos are the deadliest animal species to humans.
Most mosquito species do not carry diseases. However, scientists can edit genes of mosquitos that carry diseases so that they are resistant to the parasite that carries malaria or make female mosquitoes infertile and then introduce the genetically altered mosquitos into the general population.
According to WHO, there were 214 million malaria cases in 2015 and about 438,000 malaria deaths.
On a personal note, my dad lives in the Philippines and was hospitalized after contracting dengue from a mosquito bite.
I spent a week in Miami Beach in June, where the CDC has now issued a travel advisory for pregnant women and their partners because of Zika. I didn't have any mosquitos bites while there but hearing about Zika there has given me pause.
So what do you think? Get rid of mosquito species that spread disease? If we did, would there be any unintended consequences? Do the benefits of eradication outweigh the risks?
I say yes, we should eradicate mosquito species that spread disease. Good riddance.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazi...osquitoes/
Most mosquito species do not carry diseases. However, scientists can edit genes of mosquitos that carry diseases so that they are resistant to the parasite that carries malaria or make female mosquitoes infertile and then introduce the genetically altered mosquitos into the general population.
According to WHO, there were 214 million malaria cases in 2015 and about 438,000 malaria deaths.
On a personal note, my dad lives in the Philippines and was hospitalized after contracting dengue from a mosquito bite.
I spent a week in Miami Beach in June, where the CDC has now issued a travel advisory for pregnant women and their partners because of Zika. I didn't have any mosquitos bites while there but hearing about Zika there has given me pause.
So what do you think? Get rid of mosquito species that spread disease? If we did, would there be any unintended consequences? Do the benefits of eradication outweigh the risks?
I say yes, we should eradicate mosquito species that spread disease. Good riddance.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazi...osquitoes/
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