Chagas disease

[Walkabout]

Spread by the ' kissing bug '  Chagas disease has now been confirmed in dogs as well as humans in the USA .  It is similar to Malaria as it is a parasite of the blood .  At present there is no cure and only experimental treatment . Most cases are in the south.  https://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/infectious-parasitic/c_dg_chagas_disease

More than half of the lower 48 states and Hawaii have reported the presence of the host bug .  https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/chagas/gen_info/vectors/

 

[Earthnut]

At least they are finally calling it what it is, not a virus, not a bacteria, but a parasite, a living organism that reproduces.  And it's typical that they give you all the ways a dog or you can come into contact with it, but no definite source, "acquired through an infection with the T. cruzi parasite."  So, where does this parasite come from?  Did mankind cross-breed it?  And why is it just now spreading, since these bugs have been around probably longer then us?  You think it might have mutated because of human pollution and toxins in the air, land and water?  Then there's all the mosquito diseases we're hearing about, on top of all the animals that are becoming extinct.  Trust me, the majority of mankind is on the list as well.

Various Triatomine Bugs in all Life Stages ~

 

Scientists say the countdown clock to extinction is 3 minutes to midnight.  Doesn't surprise me a bit.  I believe the worst thing that happened to man was the industrial revolution.  After that, everything went down hill.  Now we're into the space age, and it wouldn't surprise me a bit if a lot of our modern technology is from an alien source.

[Walkabout]

insects and parasites are two entirely different life forms and controlled in totally different ways .   the Triatomine bug, above ,  [ aka kissing bug ] carries the parasite that causes the disease .  In time , other vector insects could also carry the parasite which causes the actual disease . 

[Gotham Gal]

Because people are so mobile and travel so much these days, some of these diseases are being spread in seemingly unlikely spots.  Hopefully, health services can contain the contagion when necessary.  I was pretty concerned about ebola spreading about a year ago.

[Earthnut]

What's so sad is years ago when I and others here were younger, you never heard of any of these diseases.  The world sure has changed.

[Walkabout]

I remember when canine heart worm was only found in a few locations and treatment so harsh , most dogs were euthanized .  there are now documented cases in humans [ thankfully rare for now]  .  Also canine Parvo ,  which turned out to be a mutated cat virus that jumped to dogs and killed so many before a vaccine was developed.  West Nile is somewhat new and kills humans , horses and birds .  science can barely keep up. 

[Earthnut]

18 hours ago, Walkabout said:

I remember when canine heart worm was only found in a few locations and treatment so harsh , most dogs were euthanized .  there are now documented cases in humans [ thankfully rare for now]  .  Also canine Parvo ,  which turned out to be a mutated cat virus that jumped to dogs and killed so many before a vaccine was developed.  West Nile is somewhat new and kills humans , horses and birds .  science can barely keep up. 

Science isn't keeping up, and that's somewhat scary.

[Walkabout]

Mother Nature and man's meddling is faster than science can keep up.  even with all that is out there,  our population is still over 7 billion and growing . 

[Earthnut]

Here's the latest stats ~

year	population (midyear)	average annual growth rate (%)
2015	7,324,782,225	1.09%
2016	7,404,976,783	1.07%

Kind of scary since our planet is only able to sustain 6 billion, and according to the world clock, we are closer then what is listed above.  Here's a couple links ~

https://www.census.gov/popclock/world ~ 7,303...

https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/ ~ 7,399...