Nagin: Mosquitos will bite the dead spreading disease thru the South

[eleny]

Just a clip of him on CNN a bit ago. The projected danger to the SE U.S. is enormous.

[bee]

1. the Bush Plague... n/t

[Igel]

2. I'm skeptical.

"Carbon dioxide is the most universally recognized mosquito attractant and draws mosquitoes from up to 35 meters. When female mosquitoes sense carbon dioxide they usually adopt a zigzagging flight path within the plume to locate its source. Once in the general vicinity of a potential host, other cues predominate, including body odors (sweat, lactic acid, etc.) and heat. Odors produced by skin microflora also play a part in inducing the mosquito to land. Over 350 compounds have been isolated from odors produced by human skin. Either singly or in combination, many of these compounds may be attractants – and many may be repellents. As you can see, the situation is complicated and will require many years of testing before it can be sorted out. Visual stimuli, such as movement, also factor into host-seeking."

Moreover, I'm far from sure they'd get even the little blood they actually from a dead body. A living dog would be much preferable.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

5. Right. Keep thinking that way.

[geckosfeet]

7. Thats what I thought. Maybe other hosts will spread disease from

the dead, but probably not mosquitoes.

And what diseases are spread from decaying bodies. Animals and fish die in nature all the time. They decay and return into the ecosystem.

Granted, eating decaying meat will make one ill, but I suspect that no one is doing that.

[mondo joe]

3. This is one of the reasons it's IDIOTIC to complain about the mayor or

anyone else in NO failing to take appropriate action, as the freepers do, and idiotic to say the survivors are on their own.

The risk of harm falls far outside JUST the survivors in NO.

[yardwork]

4. Mosquitoes spread yellow fever and malaria

I doubt we have to worry about those diseases right now. (Although they used to be problems in New Orleans and other parts of the south.)

The big problem is the raw sewage and dead bodies and disrupted water system. Without clean water, people are going to get dysentery and typhus.

The chemical contaminants are also a big concern. Heaven knows what toxic brew people are being exposed to, and what impact it will have on their health in both the short-term and long-term.

[TimeChaser]

6. If this goes on

... I'm afraid we would be seeing yellow fever and malaria...

[Media_Lies_Daily]

8. From Wikipedia.....they spread more than just malaria...

"Some mosquitoes are capable of transmitting protozoan diseases such as malaria (see Plasmodium falciparum), filarial diseases like filariasis, and viral diseases such as yellow fever, dengue, encephalitis, and West Nile virus."

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito>

[Ripley]

9. A woman with five children just arrived to a shelter near me...

She and her kids were covered head to toe in mosquito bites after spending days on their roof in NO. I wonder if they'll live. West Nile has killed healthy people down here in recent years.