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>"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 gat

>"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 < 725,000... And usually, Y is not just less, but several orders of magnitude less -- than 725,000... Also... if you happen to leave a window open at night (accidentally, not intentionally, I might add!), and a mosquito should happen to get in -- does that make you an "accessory to murder" ? ?

shlant 6y ago
"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
acdha 6y ago
> And yet, we never seem to hear this fact on the News... Not sure where you get your news but I’ve heard this mentioned regularly on NPR in coverage about the impacts of climate change, outbreaks, programs testing things like the genetically-engineered sterile mosquito releases, and local programs which are trying to reduce it even if it’s not a high cause of death in the United States. Remember when Zika got heavy coverage?