[Taxacom] Deadliest genera to humans

[Dan Lahr]

Ken,

I think this is quite an interesting list you've put together, looking at
organisms as a whole rather than some arbitrary sub-division.  I would
argue that for the first two, you are listing over-estimates because the *causa
mortis* in those cases (diabetes, lung cancer) are in fact multi-factorial,
but this is minutiae.

As an exercise for teaching, every year I gather information for the top 3
"infectious pathogens", and my results are the same as yours (TB, Malaria,
Strep, in that order).

Interestingly, amoeboid dysentery is often cited as highly deadly, but all
estimates are sufferable, but is a contender for your >200k requirement:
because the *causa mortis* is diarrheal dehydration, *Entamoeba* is
underreported, underestimated, underdiagnosed, misdiagnosed, and so forth.

I would be very interested to know if you have had more luck than me in
finding *Entamoeba* data.

cheers,

dan
__________________________________
Daniel J. G. Lahr
PhD habil., Associate Prof.
Dept of Zoology, Univ. of Sao Paulo, Brazil
Office number: + 55 (11) 3091 0948
http://lahr.ib.usp.br
PeerJ
PeerJ - the Journal of Life & Environmental Sciences <https://peerj.com/>
Academic Editor
peerj.com/dlahr



On Mon, Feb 10, 2020 at 9:12 AM Kenneth Kinman via Taxacom <
taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> wrote:

> Hi all,
>       Which genera are the deadliest to humans?  The internet is full of
> lists of the "deadliest animals", but most of those kill far fewer humans
> each year than the genera listed below.  Are there any other genera that
> kill 200,000 or more people (worldwide) each year?
>                                     -----------Ken Kinman
>
> Saccharum, excess sugar intake (over 10,000,000 human deaths per year).
> Nicotiana, via tobacco smoke (over 5,000,000 human deaths per year).
> Mycobacterium, especially M. tuberculosis (over 1,200,000 human deaths per
> year).
> Lentavirus causing HIV infections (over 770,000 deaths per year).
> Plasmodium (Anopheles the vector) causing malaria (over 500,000 deaths per
> year).
> Streptococcus causing pneumonia (about 500,000 deaths per year).
> Homo (humans killing over 400,000 humans per year, plus about 800,000
> suicides).
> Alphainfluenzavirus causing flu (290,000-645,000 humans per year).
> Norovirus (200,000 humans per year).
>
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>
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