[Taxacom] Revised "Deadliest genera to humans"

Tue Feb 11 15:02:15 CST 2020

Really Francisco?  A genus can be deadly, i.e. it can kill? Nonsense, a 
genus is a human construct, members of species kill, but not genera.  
Surely this is obvious to any systematist?

Mike

On 2/11/2020 1:54 PM, Francisco Welter-Schultes via Taxacom wrote:
> Well, why matter about such details. The main message is that genera 
> can be deadly to humans and we should generally keep away from them.
>
> -----
> Francisco
>
> Am 11.02.2020 um 21:18 schrieb Kenneth Kinman via Taxacom:
>> Hi Tony,
>>           Yes, sharks only kill about 10 to 20 people per year. 
>> Crocodiles kill far more (about 1,000), hippos (500), elephants (100) 
>> and lions (100).   I was very surprised at the 500 deaths from hippo 
>> attacks, and also surprised about 10,000 deaths from assassin bugs 
>> infecting people with Chagas disease.
>>           However, another suggestion has produced another major 
>> addition to my list.  It is an additional one for genus Homo under 
>> "bad dietary choices", namely excess alcohol consumption (killing 
>> about 2 to 3 million humans worldwide each year from alcoholism).  So 
>> I would add genus Saccharomyces (along with Bos, Zea, Saccharum 
>> and/or Beta) in that category.
>>                           --------------------Ken
>> P.S.  I predict that the 10,000 deaths this year from Chagas disease 
>> (via assassin bugs) will exceed the death toll from the new 
>> coronavirus.   Meanwhile the contagious genera Norovirus and 
>> Alphainfluenzavirus will continue to kill 500,000-800,000 every 
>> year.    One major "silver lining" is that the new coronavirus isn't 
>> causing much harm to children.  No children or adolescents died from 
>> the related SARS virus.
>>
>> ________________________________
>> From: Tony Rees <tonyrees49 at gmail.com>
>> Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2020 12:18 PM
>> To: Kenneth Kinman <kinman at hotmail.com>
>> Cc: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
>> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Revised "Deadliest genera to humans"
>>
>> I am guessing that sharks do not make the list - too low down (shame...)
>>
>> Actually I remember reading that in Australia at least, more people 
>> are killed by horses (falling off) than are taken by sharks, making 
>> the horse the more deadly animal (!)
>>
>> Best - Tony
>>
>> Tony Rees, New South Wales, Australia
>> https://about.me/TonyRees
>>
>>
>> On Wed, 12 Feb 2020 at 03:34, Kenneth Kinman via Taxacom 
>> <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu<mailto:taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>> wrote:
>> Hi All,
>>           Okay, I agree with the suggestions.  Homo definitely tops 
>> the list, but I'm splitting it into three categories.
>> Revised listing of deadliest genera to humans:
>>
>> Homo via bad dietary choices (especially from Bos, Zea, Saccharum, 
>> and/or Beta, i.e. excess sugars and red meat) (over 11,000,000 human 
>> deaths per year).
>> Homo via Nicotiana, causing cancers from tobacco smoking and chewing 
>> (over 5,000,000 human deaths per year).
>> Homo (humans killing over 400,000 humans per year, plus about 800,000 
>> suicides, totaling over 1,200,000 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).
>> Alphainfluenzavirus, causing flu (290,000-645,000 humans per year).
>> Norovirus (about 200,000 humans per year).
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>>
>> Schistosoma, causing schistosomiasis (about 200,000 humans in the 
>> year 2000; but now lower due to treatment programs?)
>> Entamoeba, causing amoebic dysentery (50,000-100,000 humans per year).
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
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>>
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-- 
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Michael A. Ivie, Ph.D., F.R.E.S.

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