No Author AvailableOctober 14, 2010
Click on Picture for Article Link!!
Bugs? Lights? Disease? How is this all supposed to relate? Well, it all relates quite perfectly! You see, bugs are attracted to nighttime lights because they are used to using the light from the moon and the stars to guide them. With all this artificial light around them during the time where barely any light should be reaching their eyes, they go nutzo! They turn into these evil, human blood-sucking creatures, like teeny tiny vampires! Only kidding, but bugs are attracted to artificial lights, and these bugs carry disease. Now, what do artificial lights allow humans to do? Stay out after dark! With all the big cities in the word, comes big (and many) lights. With all this entertainment and extra time in the twenty-four hour day, humans are out and about more and more exposed to these parasitic insects, are being bit more and more, and these insects are passing their germs, viruses, parasites, bacteria-whatever it is that they carry, into, and onto the human they bite. For example, say you just came out of a restaurant in New York, New York and you are walking two blocks in the summer heat to reach your car. Suddenly, you feel this sting on the back of your neck, swat at is, the sting goes away, and you arrive home safely. A week or two later, you start to get some symptoms and go to the doctors office. You are diagnosed with malaria. Little did you know that when you were walking to your car from the restaurant and felt a sting, you were bitten by a malaria infected mosquito. So, in conclusion, when there are nightlights, there are people. Also where there are night lights, there are bugs because bugs are attracted to the light. When there are night lights there are people and bugs; when there are people and bugs, there is a greater chance of disease being transmitted through insects.
In my opinion, this is a very interesting subject. It's quite neat how they can predict that more people are getting disease around bright lights because bugs are around bright lights, too. Even so, this doesn't have as much effect on them because they have great medical care and can, in most cases, just get some medicine and be all better. This observation about bugs and lights can even be simulated in your own home, by watching the lights outside your home, and seeing all the bugs that are attracted to those lights. This would probably work best in the summer, though, just because most bugs thrive better during warmer weather.
Here are a few questions for you to think about... or answer if you wish:
1) Should people take precautions when they are outdoors around lots of night time lights, or should they just go into the don't worry, be happy mode?
2)If someone were to take precautions, why should they, when they could just go and get some medicine at the doctors office if they were to get sick?
3)What is the point of this article? Why is there just this random article about bugs, lights, and humans and how people can get sick anywhere if they are out at night with a light on?
This was actually the most interesting article i've read from these blogs so far. I always knew bugs were attracted to lights but i didn't really think of it as a problem. I just thought that bugs go to lights and then they die from the heat but now i know that they're actually just spreading diseases around... But i also agree with you Maddy, that although it may be a problem since they are spreading diseases around, people in the US can just go to the doctors office to get treated. Although, in some cases, the disease may not be able to be treated or the infected person may not be able to afford treatment. So i think that people who are worried about this should wear the bug spray as a precaution just to protect themselves. It may not be that bad though so it really just depends on the person and their situation.
ReplyDeletei found and article describing some bugs and what diseases they may spread.
http://www.traveldoctor.co.uk/insects.htm
i also found a picture of a light with lots of bugs attracted to it. Sorry, very long URL...
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.pestcontrolrx.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/08/01/bugsonlights.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.pestcontrolrx.com/david_somlcom/yellow_lights/&usg=__nxG7A97nGW0ttvJXMLzYmLu7txk=&h=531&w=800&sz=292&hl=en&start=0&sig2=ImTovSdH6yPbssqt2j0s2w&zoom=1&tbnid=A_sPiQ65OXk6sM:&tbnh=132&tbnw=187&ei=nJm3TKGZJ8H78AbqvfjpCA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbugs%2Band%2Blights%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D646%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C46&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=442&oei=nJm3TKGZJ8H78AbqvfjpCA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:0&tx=119&ty=73&biw=1280&bih=646
Wow. This article is so interesting! I never would have thought artificial lights could be a problem for bugs. I always thought they just thought it was the sun. This article made me really think about using bug spray when i go out from now on. I know that i could always just get treated for anything i catch, but what if i end up at the doctors office to late?
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question "Should people take precautions when they are outdoors around lots of night time lights, or should they just go into the don't worry, be happy mode?:
I believe that you should always be careful about what you do, especially in this case. If we don't protect ourselves from this, we could catch a disease. Even though they can treat them, it's better not to get in the first place.
Hey guys. Nice article. I have a similar thought on the subject. It does make sense that the more lights there are, the more prone you are to diseases. I never thought of it that way though. I think however, most of the bugs that do bight you will not transfer diseases. This would probalbly only affect people where there sanitation level is lower, such as in africa. Because the sanitation is high here, I dont think it would be much of a problem.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question "If someone were to take precautions, why should they, when they could just go and get some medicine at the doctors office if they were to get sick?" Some diseases are not treatable, in which case the disease could become fatal. So it is always best to take saftey precautions first rather to just get treated.
Hey guys! I agree with Marisa that this was a very interesting article. It really made me think about why the bugs bite so much when it gets darker out. I always thought that thats just what happens, and we can't control it.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your question: "If someone were to take precautions, why should they, when they could just go and get some medicine at the doctors office if they were to get sick?", I think that people should take precautions because there is always the chance that your condition cannot be treated at all, or your doctor will not have the right medicine. You could also simply not be able to pay for the treatment. You should always play it safe, in case something comes up and you can't be helped. To respond to question 3, I think that
the point of this article is to show that because we wanted to advance, we caused a change in these animals, which is now coming back to haunt many people.