Pricey Readers, thanks for becoming a member of BugBitten as we lined a few of the occasions and advances in our understanding of parasites and their vectors. Right here, I’ve highlighted a few of the somewhat sudden issues we realized this yr. We want you all a contented and affluent 2023!
Be a part of us as we journey again by 2022 and rediscover a few of our extra sudden classes from the world of parasites and their vectors….
The actual worth of gold
Between 2012 and 2018 there have been over 44,000 reported circumstances of malaria in Colombia’s gold mining neighborhood, exhibiting the sudden value and risks of gold mining. Learn extra in Karina Mondragon-Shem’s weblog from January 2022.
Transferring into the sunshine may be higher for… some flies
The fruit fly Drosophila nigrospiracula lives within the Sonoran desert (feeding on cacti) and is much less more likely to be infested with ectoparasites whether it is within the mild. Discover out extra in Hilary Hurd’s weblog Being afraid of the darkish could also be helpful.
The candy odor of success…for a virus at the very least
Flaviviruses comparable to Zika virus and the Dengue virus could make you produce Acetophenone, a compound that pulls Aedes mosquitoes – making it extra probably that you can be bitten and therefore the virus transmitted. Krisztian Magori’s July weblog explains extra.
Parasites like browsing the waves…on plastic waste
Toxoplasma gondii, Cryptosporidium parvum, and Giardia enterica had been proven to have the ability to connect to plastic microfibers and microbeads in seawater. They’ll survive in oceanic environments for a very long time, may be ingested by marine organisms and doubtlessly be unfold to wider geographic areas by way of the ocean. Daniel Parsons highlights this in his weblog Terrestrial pathogens and microplastics: Hitchhiker’s information to the ocean
Holy helminths!
Burial stays present that regardless of having higher hygiene practices, sanitary infrastructure, diet and life expectations, Augustian friars had been extra more likely to have helminth infections than odd ‘townfolk’. As mentioned in Anouk Gouvras’ August weblog, this may very well be resulting from their use of human and animal waste to fertilise crops in monastery gardens.
Pandemics are nothing new…
….however we will use new know-how to find extra about historic plague occasions AND use that information to assist us plan for present and future pandemics. In her weblog, A brand new understanding of outdated pandemics, Hilary Hurd discusses the usage of genomic analyses of stays of medieval plague vectors to check how waves of Outdated-World plague pandemics unfold.
*all photographs are from Pixabay and free to make use of below their license.