Tag Archives: disease

Opinion, U.S.

Dumb Americans: New study shows that many U.S. citizens, living in big cities, don’t know that mosquitoes spread disease

“High general knowledge of mosquitoes and concern about mosquito biting was not sufficient to encourage residents to dump standing water, and even in yards where residents did empty containers, there were still many mosquito breeding sites.”-Zara Dowling, researcher

The University of Maryland discovered that many city dwellers are unaware that standing water is a breeding ground for mosquitoes.  Not only that, those people who know are too lazy to dump the water.

The study also looked at the class level of the city dwellers and found, surprisingly, that while upper income families were more educated about the dangers of mosquitoes, they were less likely to take action (wealth breeds laziness?), compared to middle and lower income families!

54% of the families surveyed had a high number of mosquitoes on their property.

However, the University of Maryland must be criticized for trying to imply that most U.S. citizens are dumb, or lazy, when it comes to mosquito control.  The study looked at only 242 urban households!  That’s not enough to make such an extrapolation.

International, Technology

Brushing your teeth can get you pregnant

“Our data suggest that the presence of periodontal disease is a modifiable risk factor, which can increase a woman’s time to conception, particularly for non-Caucasians.”-Roger Hart, University of Western Australia.

An Australian study links clean teeth to increased birth rates.  3,416 women were tracked, and the results suggest that bad oral hygiene in Caucasian women delayed their ability to get pregnant by two months.

The study might be “racist”, but it concluded that non-Caucasian women with gum disease took a full year to get pregnant.

Previous studies have also concluded that men with dirty mouths have a hard time getting women pregnant.  I don’t know how serious we should take these studies, because other studies have linked dirty mouths to type 2 diabetes, heart disease and even respiratory problems.