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Part of Number 5 of The Highlight, our home for ambitious stories that explain our world.
The most lethal killer in the history of humanity may not be a gun, a bomb, a cancer or a car accident. It's a pesky bug that most of us do not think about: the mosquito.
In 200,000 years, 108 billion people have lived on Earth. And nearly half, 52 billion, were killed by mosquitoes. The impact of this disastrous insect has shaped civilization beyond our expectations, according to historian Timothy C. Winegard, whose new book, The mosquito: a human story of our most deadly predator, explore this deadly insect.
Since the dinosaur era, this incredibly resistant mosquito has been a carrier of malaria, yellow fever, yellow fever and many other diseases that have ravaged the human population, the African populations being the most affected. In The mosquitoThe fifth book of Winegard, it explores not only the disastrous consequences of mosquitoes on the biological level, but also the social impact of insects, including their impact on GDP by removing millions of people from the labor market and guiding the course of history a biological weapon in wartime.
I spoke to Winegard, who currently teaches history and political science at Colorado Mesa University, and explained to her what makes mosquitoes "masters of evolutionary adaptation," and They must be eradicated, and what kind of function – if any – they serve. I also asked him the age-old question of how to avoid mosquito bites (the key, he says, concerns our feet).
Our conversation has been condensed and modified for clarity.
Hope Reese
What makes mosquitoes unique as a deadly enemy for humankind?
Timothy C. Winegard
The mosquito is an almost universal animal. We have $ 110 trillion spread over almost the entire planet, for over 100 million years. The mosquito is therefore global while other insects have their ecological niches here and there around the world.
The other thing is that the mosquito transmits or transmits many more diseases than other insects. So, for example, you have the killer, or the kissing virus [a tropical bloodsucking insect that transmits parasites like the one that causes Chagas disease]but this is just one example, while mosquitoes have parasites like malaria and many viruses and worms. So there is such a multitude of diseases that different species of mosquitoes transmit compared to other insects.
Hope Reese
How have mosquitoes been so adaptive?
Timothy C. Winegard
Like any other animal, including ourselves, it is a process of natural selection and survival. The mosquito has therefore adapted to withstand global DDT rains, for example from the Second World War. And at the moment Rachel Carson writes her seminal book Silent spring in 1962, there were already five mosquitoes immunized against DDT.
Mosquitoes want to live and procreate and continue their species, so they adapt to do it – just as we did to protect ourselves from malaria; for example, sickle cell disease is an example of our fight against the threat of mosquito-borne diseases through natural selection.
Hope Reese
So, let's go back a bit. Can you talk about your interest in mosquitoes, both as a historian and as a military experience?
Timothy C. Winegard
Well, I'm Canadian, our arrival in the summer is signalized by hordes of mosquitoes – that's part of our culture. But on a more specific note, my portfolio of teaching at the university ranges from Western civilization to American history to Native studies. While going through all these books and reading, I consider the story as a puzzle, and it was missing only a few pieces of this puzzle.
I sat down with my father, an emergency doctor, and we started discussing the disease. He talked about malaria and [I began] examine malaria, mosquitoes, disease. Later, I was shopping and I saw a giant screen for Deep Woods Off announcing that it could repel the mosquitoes that cause dengue, Zika and West Nile. The historical pieces of the puzzle were assembled and it was a bit like: "Okay, that's now a no-brainer."
When I deepened my research, there were so many examples of mosquito-borne diseases throughout history, many more lethal than man-made weapons or inventions. dating from antiquity until the Second World War.
Hope Reese
How were mosquitoes used in military operations?
Timothy C. Winegard
The Nazis deliberately flooded the Pontine Marshes around Rome and Naples as a premeditated biological weapon to reintroduce malaria mosquitoes to this part of Italy during the Second World War. It was shocking to hear that. First, they thought about it and did it. Then my wife's grandfather was in Anzio, Italy, at the time and had malaria for that reason. He had no idea about it.
So I told him in the spring of 2017, and that sort of drew the curtains in a way that made him for him, for his experience of the war, and in his stoic, normal self, just looked at it and said, "Well, that makes a lot of sense. Since there was a personal connection to the broader history of mosquito-borne diseases during the Second World War, it touched us at home, as well as my wife's family.
Hope Reese
You write that there are an average of 2 million mosquito deaths per year since the year 2000. How many of these deaths are due to malaria?
Timothy C. Winegard
These figures are estimates. Malaria certainly represents the majority of deaths from mosquito-borne diseases. With yellow fever, there is now a vaccine, so he does not have nearly the number of deaths he has experienced in the past. Some of the other diseases are not usually prolific killers, such as West Nile and Zika, but for people with full symptoms, it is a horrible experience that can lead to death.
Since the Gates Foundation was established in 2000, with their outstanding work in trying to combat mosquito-borne diseases and funding various research and trying to deploy mosquito nets, insecticides and antimalarial drugs in the least developed pockets of the world. In the world, we are seeing a decrease in overall deaths from mosquito-borne diseases, particularly malaria. Again, the numbers still vary, but in general, we are seeing a decrease in the number of deaths specifically due to malaria, which is the leading cause of death.
But, on the other hand, some of these viruses are becoming an increased threat of spread around the world. The number of deaths from malaria is declining, but Zika virus, West Nile and dengue are a growing threat.
Hope Reese
You are writing about turning points in history that have caused more mosquito-borne diseases. What are some of the great moments in history that have impacted the spread of these diseases?
Timothy C. Winegard
Domestication of animals near mosquitoes creates zoonoses where overflowing [happens] animal diseases in humans. We see this with smallpox and tuberculosis, colds. So it has become bad for this purpose. When we start moving our environment, cutting down trees, adding water, it's a dangerous recipe for the proliferation of mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases.
The other factor is that when we domesticate these plants and animals, population densities increase. It is then easier for diseases to spread because of the proximity of people with people, mosquitoes with people and animals with people. So it's a whole fun package that creates an environment conducive to zoonotic transmission of animal diseases to humans.
Hope Reese
How does climate change affect this?
Timothy C. Winegard
The increase in temperatures means a longer breeding season for mosquitoes. In Canada, mosquito-borne diseases have increased by 10% over the last 20 years. In the southern United States, we have seen domestic cases of zika, chikungunya and even dengue in the last 10 years. Thus, if temperatures rise around the planet, mosquitoes survive and breed longer, which increases the risk of spreading the disease.
Hope Reese
Is there anything good with mosquitoes?
Timothy C. Winegard
We do not know for sure. We know that they do not ingest waste like other insects, they do not soil like other insects. Of course, other animals eat them, but not as an indispensable source of food. And they pollinate, because males drink nectar, but they do not pollinate like bees. And only females bite.
I'm alluding to it in the book, and that's a tricky topic, but perhaps they are the culmination of the Malthusian audit of uncontrolled population growth.
We forget that we are a one-ton animal that lives on this planet and we share our global village. Sometimes our own pride drives us to think that we are above other animals on the planet, which is not the case. Mosquitoes and other insects, like the kiss virus, remind us that we are not as powerful as we think.
Hope Reese
Should we completely eliminate mosquitoes?
Timothy C. Winegard
We must certainly support a moral argument that they are devastating human populations and we should try to eradicate diseases. I do not choose a camp. Biologically, there is an argument in one sense, but morally, there is an argument in the other sense. This is something that scientists and biologists have thought of.
To use the Star wars the analogy, there is a balance for the Force. And when there is a disturbance in the Force, things go wrong. Disturb this balance by intervening in natural selection to eliminate all mosquitoes – and I do not think that is what is promoted, because there are 3,500 species of mosquitoes and very few communicable diseases – but the eradication of those who transmit diseases is perhaps extreme.
Yet a lot of CRISPR research [which alters the DNA of mosquitoes] aims to make mosquitoes harmless by rendering them incapable of carrying diseases, but without harming the mosquitoes themselves.
Hope Reese
Eighty-five percent of what makes us attractive to mosquitoes is due to genetic factors. Can you explain? And what can we do to avoid bites?
Timothy C. Winegard
The blood group is one. According to the studies, they prefer blood group O to A, B or a mixture.
But there are other factors [that affect the chance of attracting mosquitoes]. Do not wear bright colors. Do not drink beer. Do less exercise – when you exercise, you release more carbon dioxide; it's basically a magnetizer for mosquitoes. Clean your feet. The bacteria on our feet is an aphrodisiac mosquito. Everywhere else on the skin is usually a deterrent, except for feet. But most of it is wired in a genetic circuit board. There are myths that the color of your hair would have an impact, or if you have darker skin or more leathery skin. None of this seems to be true.
But the best advice? Do not go out during mosquito rush hours! At the end of the day, people are sleeping under an insect repellent, but if you miss a small area, it will find it! It bypasses our best repellents.
Hope Reese is a reporter in Louisville, Kentucky. His writings have been published in the Atlantic, the Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, Longreads, VICE and other publications.
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