• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

The World’s Deadliest Animal Is Not What You Think It Is

December 10, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

In a world that still contains some potent predators, you might think the deadliest animal would be something like a great white shark, or a grizzly bear, or another similar beastie. You would certainly be forgiven for thinking so, given how much media attention a rare big animal attack gets these days. However, the world’s deadliest animal is not what you would expect. It is neither ferocious nor powerful, but it is nevertheless responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year.

Before we dive into the story of this killer, we should clear up some details to show just how menacing it is. Despite the popularity of ocean predators in our cultural mind, sharks kill around 10 people across the world each year on average (though 2023 witnessed a slight growth in this). Compared to falling coconuts (which kill around 150 people each year), sharks really are not that worthy of the fear they generate.

Advertisement

But what about bears? In North America, there are around 750,000 black bears roaming the countryside. How many people do they kill on average each year? One, one person.

When it comes to fatal encounters, even cows outperform bears and sharks, as they kill between 20-22 people in the US alone on an annual basis.

Okay, big and ferocious doesn’t seem to cut it, but what about toxic or venomous? Spiders, the subject of many fears across the world, are responsible for remarkably few deadly bites, especially since antivenoms were developed in the 20th century. However, the same cannot be said about snakebites. The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes snakebites as a “neglected tropical disease”, as around 140,000 people are killed by them across the world each year.

Despite the tragic nature of this figure, it really does not even compete with the world’s top killer. Every year, between 700,000 and 2.5 million people lose their lives because of this creature. What is it? The not-so-humble mosquito.

Advertisement

Mosquitoes are vectors for various diseases, the most deadly being malaria, which kills around 600,000 people each year, while another 200 million cases result in people being incapacitated for days at a time. The disease mostly affects people living in tropical and subtropical areas. In the countries with the highest transmission rates, the most vulnerable are young children who have not developed immunity, as well as pregnant women whose own immunity has been altered by pregnancy.

Despite the increasing availability of various forms of intervention to prevent and treat the disease, it continues to exact a heavy cost on individuals, families, communities, and entire nations.

In recent years, malaria has started to become more of a risk to people living in countries that are less familiar with it. Although not endemic in the US, the disease is imported in greater numbers as people visit countries where it is endemic. Similar has been occurring in southern France where it is becoming a sporadic issue.

Malaria is not the only disease transmitted by mosquitos. Dengue fever, a viral infection, is also common in tropical and subtropical areas and is endemic to parts of the US. Although it is not as severe as malaria, with most people recovering over time, it is still deeply unpleasant for those who experience it.

Advertisement

There are other mosquito-transmitted diseases as well, including West Nile virus, which, although rarely fatal, can cause neurological disease (in around 1 percent of cases), which can kill. There is currently no specific treatment for this infection.

So despite their tiny size, the mosquito really is a worrying killer across the world, and, as climate change continues, it may spread to previously unaffected areas. 

There are a number of initiatives aimed at limiting their impact on human health across the world, and while many are highly effective, the fight against them will continue for some time to come.

[H/T: The BMJ]

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Cricket-Manchester test likely to be postponed after India COVID-19 case
  2. EU to attend U.S. trade meeting put in doubt by French anger
  3. Soccer-West Ham win again, Leicester and Napoli falter
  4. Lacking Company, A Dolphin In The Baltic Is Talking To Himself

Source Link: The World’s Deadliest Animal Is Not What You Think It Is

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • This Is Your Brain On ChatGPT: Lower Neural Interconnectivity And “Soulless” Work
  • In November 2026, A Human-Made Object Will Reach A Light-Day From Earth For First Time In History
  • Alan Turing Masterpieces “Almost Shredded” By Owners Fetch $625,000 At Auction
  • Salton Sea: California’s Largest And Most Polluted Lake Is Even More Toxic Than Thought
  • Sharks Follow A Fundamental Law Of Geometry, And That’s A Really Big Deal
  • “Swarm Intelligence” Sees Longhorn Crazy Ants Clear The Path For Nestmates
  • Cave Remains Reveal Earliest Evidence Of Ice Age Indigenous Australians At High Altitude
  • Scientists Have Finally Identified A Denisovan Skull – It’s Been Hiding In Plain Sight Since 1933
  • Thought Horns Were Just For Cows? This Striking Triple-Horned Chameleon Proves Otherwise
  • Elon Musk’s Starship Doesn’t Even Have To Fly To Explode Now
  • How Do We Know The Bible’s Forbidden Fruit Was An Apple?
  • Your Genetic Ancestry Is Probably Not What You Think It Is
  • Researchers Use Bubbles To Encode And Store Messages In Ice, And Read Them Back From Photographs
  • Analemmas And The Equation Of Time: Why The Path Of The Sun Traces Out An 8 On Earth
  • Positive Nihilism: Is Meaninglessness The Key To Happiness?
  • Feast Your Eyes On The Most Detailed 1,000-Color Image Of A Nearby Galaxy
  • Engineering YouTuber Weighs An Airbus A320 Plane Whilst It Is Still Flying
  • Australian Moth Is First-Known Invertebrate To Navigate By Stars On Epic 1,000-Kilometer Migration
  • Losing Two Legs Doesn’t Slow Tarantulas Down Or Make Them More Unstable
  • Who Dislikes The Other More, Democrats Or Republicans? This Study Found Out
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version