As if the economic restraints from a life in poverty aren’t crippling enough, a new study finds that low-income urban neighborhoods in Baltimore not only have more mosquitoes, but they’re notably larger in size. Such a difference indicates a higher risk of transmitting diseases.
Researchers at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in New York have been using Baltimore as a testing grounds to study how environmental and social conditions affect the number of disease-carrying mosquitoes. They focused in particular on one species, the tiger mosquito, an invasive species which are especially plentiful in urban areas. They’re known to be aggressive day-biters and have been known to transmit several types of viruses, including Zika, dengue fever, chikungunya, Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE), and West Nile virus.
“More people are living in cities. At the same time, many other species are also adapting to city living,” says senior author and Cary Institute disease ecologist Shannon LaDeau in a statement. “Invasive species like the tiger mosquito increasingly thrive in temperate urban areas, living among us and fundamentally altering the risk of local disease emergence. ”
More here
[Of course, this is Trump's fault. --Editor]
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And what about the leeches. Both legal and illegal ?
ReplyDeleteNature has a way of addressing blight.
ReplyDeleteI bet that those areas are both colder and hotter (outside) too during summer and winter.
ReplyDeleteI bet the rats are bigger too. Let those who live there quit junking them up, then blight would go away. It's their neighborhood, keep it clean instead of adding to the blight.
ReplyDeleterats there look like dogs
DeleteLook at the amount of water-holding trash piles, mounds old tires, flooded basements in abandoned houses, etc., and it's easy to see why. Then there are the city, landlords, banks and residents, all of whom don't care until there's money in it for them. Somebody else's money, that is.
ReplyDeleteBullsh*t, I lived in inner city Baltimore (total ghetto southwest side) and NEVER had a mosquito bite there. No grass just steps and sidewalk, but we did live next to a park. The rats, though, OH the RATS !
ReplyDeleteYou know this has got to be Trumps fault! I would blame Obama, but a fly wouldn;t even pitch on him.
ReplyDelete