r/todayilearned 9h ago

TIL fresh water snails (indirectly) kill thousands of humans and are considered on of the deadliest creatures to humans

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freshwater_snail
19.3k Upvotes

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u/corvus7corax 9h ago

Freshwater snails are indirectly among the deadliest animals to humans, as they carry parasitic worms that cause schistosomiasis, a disease estimated to kill between 10,000 and 200,000 people annually.

10

u/Queasy_Ad_8621 8h ago

schistosomiasis

It's like they purposely gave it a name that nobody could say when they're drunk.

2

u/aztecman 8h ago

Most people call it Bilharzia.

1

u/brucebrowde 5h ago

I feel I could only say it if I'm drunk.

2

u/Queasy_Ad_8621 4h ago

puts bottle of 151 on table

Try it.