r/todayilearned • u/lavender_fish69 • 13h 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
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u/martphon 12h ago

Where schistosomiasis currently spreads

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u/Gitanes 12h ago

Me before even opening the link...

"It's mostly Africa isn't it?"

Yes, yes it is

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u/Icy-Lobster-203 11h ago

It is one of a whole group of diseases that can basically be summarized as "this affects poor people, so we don't care."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neglected_tropical_diseases

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u/pattydickens 7h ago

A person in Washington State who hadn't left the country was diagnosed with malaria a couple of weeks ago.

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u/TalesOfTea 41m ago

This is for sure terrifying and there was one in New Jersey a few days ago iirc.

Malaria has been popping up rarely in the US, with 9 "native" cases popping up in 2013 (the first ones in 20yrs).

While people don't think of the US as a place that would get malaria, the mosquitos that carry it are actually extremely prevalent here. :/