fbpx

10 Ways To Die Getting Bitten By A Fly And Other Critters

10 Ways To Die Getting Bitten By A Fly And Other Critters

1 of 11

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have confirmed that chikungunya, a mosquito-borne illness previously found only in Africa, Asia and parts of Europe, has made it to the Caribbean Island of St. Martin.

It’s time for a refresher course in zoonoses — diseases and infections that are naturally transmitted between vertebrate animals and humans. Agents of these diseases could be bacteria, viruses, funguses or other communicable diseases we share with our animal friends, says the World Health Organization.

Here are 10 gnarly diseases that will keep you up at night. Compared to the others, chikungunya is relatively tame, but wins a spot on this list for its ground-breaking jump.

www.en-wikipedia.org
www.en-wikipedia.org

1. Chikungunya

I’ll start with this one, although in terms of other nasty diseases that can be transmitted between humans and animals, it’s pretty tame. But it is the disease of the hour so to speak, now that 10 cases have been confirmed in St. Martin with health officials saying they believe the virus is present in the island’s mosquito populations. This is a big deal because it means the virus, which had only been found in Africa, Asia and some parts of Europe previously, has now jumped across a major body of water. Chikungunya causes fever, headaches and severe joint pains that are not usually fatal, but do last at least a week, the CDC says. There is no vaccine.

www.news.com.au
www.news.com.au

2. Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever

This virus scares the living daylights out of us all. The host has never been isolated, but researchers do believe the disease is zoonotic (animal-borne) and lives in Africa, according to the CDC. Outbreaks occur sporadically, and are usually in Central Africa (although there was allegedly a monkey outbreak in Reston, Va., in the 90s, but the infected monkeys had been imported from the Philippines). Anyway, Ebola basically makes you bleed out through every orifice in your body. Onset is abrupt with sudden symptoms including fever, headache, severe joint and muscle aches, vomiting and weakness. It is followed by a rash, red eyes, unstoppable hiccups and then in most people progresses to internal and external bleeding and death. Some people are able to withstand and recover from Ebola, but researchers do not know why. The mortality rate is up to 90 percent.

www.vaccinenewsdaily.com
www.vaccinenewsdaily.com

3. Dengue Fever

Similar to malaria (mosquitoes transmit both), dengue is actually scarier to me because, unlike malaria, there is no prophylactic medication you can take to prevent it. And while the first time you get sick is usually mild – 80 percent of people show no symptoms the CDC says — the second time you get infected it is usually much worse, often progressing into dengue hemorrhagic fever, which, even with treatment can lead to death. Considering that 40 percent of the world’s population lives in a dengue fever risk area, this is pretty scary.

www.orkin.com
www.orkin.com

4. Black Fever

Black Fever is another super-scary one. You get it from the bite of an infected female sand fly, and it can be contracted in many tropical and temperate regions. India has the greatest number of infections, followed by Bangladesh, Brazil, Nepal and Sudan, according to the CDC. If left untreated, Black Fever has a mortality rate of about 100 percent, although if you make it to the doctor for medication, your chance of dying drops to only 5 percent. Symptoms are similar to malaria including high fever, fatigue and weakness, and also blackening of the skin and ulcers. Untreated, black fever attacks the immune system, and patients usually die from a secondary infection.

www.en-wikipedia.org
www.en-wikipedia.org

5. Rabies

OK so you’ve heard of rabies of course. It’s transmitted via the saliva of an infected animal,  either through a bite or scratch. But did you know that if you get this virus and you don’t get the series of shots within the 24-hour post-exposure time frame, you might not die?

The Milwaukee Protocol is a treatment has saved about 12 percent of unvaccinated patients it has been tried on, according to an article in WiredMagazine. This is a serious improvement on the 100-percent mortality rate if left untreated. While it’s ineffective more than 85 percent of the time, this treatment involves putting the rabid patient into a drug-induced coma and giving massive doses of antivirals.

In the developed world, there is really no excuse not seek medical attention in time to be treated. If you get to your doctor within 24 hours of being infected and get the post-exposure prophylaxis vaccine (one dose of immune globulin, or human blood, from the country where you were bitten and four doses of rabies vaccine over a 14-day period) you’ll likely survive.

www.en-wikipedia.org
www.en-wikipedia.org

6. Q Fever

Q Fever is technically considered one of the most infectious agents know to mankind, It is actually classified as a Class II bioterror agent by the CDC. Only a single bacterium is needed for an individual to contract the disease and it can be passed from human to human, unlike many of the diseases on this list. That said, the way it is transmitted, through contact with infected bodily fluids, makes it an unlikely choice as a bioterrorism agent. Most people who contract the disease these days are zoosexuals and zoophiles (people who have sex with animals — uh, so not cool!) It is also passed between livestock and other domestic mammals through contact with their milk, feces and semen. Symptoms take about a week to kick in, but when they do they include high fever, sensitivity to light, extreme sweating and terrible headaches. The good news is the disease can be killed relatively easily with a strong dose of antibiotics, and if treated early on has less than 2 percent mortality rate, according to the CDC website.

Photo Credit: Oregon State University
Photo Credit: Oregon State University

7. African Trypanosomiasis

Here’s another one that scares the heck out of me. I remember being on safari in Kenya, and the guide telling us to try to avoid being bitten by a tsetse fly (as they buzzed around our heads) because they were known to carry African sleeping sickness. When I asked the guide what happened if I did get bitten, he said I’d fall asleep and not wake up. According to the CDC, however, the parasitic infection (found only in rural Africa) can be cured with proper medication. If left untreated, though, it wrecks your central nervous system and then causes mental and neurological deterioration followed by death within a few months.

www.en-wikipedia.org
www.en-wikipedia.org

8. Yellow Fever

They make you get inoculated against it for travel between certain countries, so what exactly is this yellow fever? Well, according to the CDC, it is a virus found in tropical and subtropical parts of Africa and South America that is transmitted to humans via an infected mosquito bite. Infected individuals experience a range of symptoms including severe liver disease with bleeding that can lead to death. There is no specific treatment for yellow fever, but if you are traveling to a potentially infected area, you can protect yourself through vaccination. In fact most countries require proof of this upon entry if you’ve traveled anywhere near a yellow fever zone.

commons.wikimedia.org
commons.wikimedia.org

9. Toxoplasmosis

People with compromised immune systems might want to think about adopting a dog instead of a cat. Toxoplasmosis, which the CDC says is the leading cause of death attributed to food borne illness in the U.S., is contracted through eating undercooked meat or exposure to cat feces. For most people, toxoplasmosis is not a concern. For some with compromised immune systems, coming into contact with this parasite can prove deadly. For this reason, the CDC has placed it on its neglected parasitic infections list in an effort to make the public more aware of its existence.

www.en-wikipedia.org
www.en-wikipedia.org

10. Leptospirosis

Without treatment this bacterial infection can lead to kidney damage, meningitis, liver failure and even death, according the CDC website. The disease is spread through the urine of infected animals that leaches into water or soil. It is a hardy little bug and can survive for months. Humans usually contract the disease by drinking or swimming in contaminated water. The disease occurs worldwide, but is most common in temperate or tropical climates, and is found in many lakes and rivers in Africa. If you come down with flu-like symptoms after swimming in any suspicious water, get checked. It is not difficult to treat if caught early.