>Statistical analysis showed significant differences in hematological parameters between vegetarian and nonvegetarian population. People eating vegetarian diet had significantly lower white blood cell count and red blood cell count in both, older (P < 0.01; P < 0.001) and younger (P < 0.01, P < 0.001) populations in comparison with nonvegetarian subjects. Hematological parameters were decreased, but in normal reference range. Reduced white blood cell counts were discovered in individual cell populations. Younger vegetarians had significantly lower count of neutrophils (P < 0.001), monocytes (P < 0.05), and eosinophils (P < 0.01) compared with younger nonvegetarians. In older vegetarians, significantly lower lymphocyte (P < 0.001) and basophile (P < 0.01) counts were found.Immune function analysis displayed significantly lower phagocytosis of monocytes and granulocytes in an older vegetarian population (vs. older nonvegetarians (P < 0.05, P < 0.001). Similar effect of diet was observed as decreased phagocytic activity of granulocytes in younger vegetarians. Regardless of age, respiratory burst of phagocytic cells was also significantly decreased in women vegetarians versus nonvegetarians (P < 0.05, P < 0.001). Older vegetarians revealed significantly suppressed proliferative response of T-lymphocytes to mitogens (P < 0.001).
I suspect that in practice, decreasing the culture of meat consumption would have more of an impact on the emergence of zoonotic diseases than increasing the culture of food safety.
In particular, zoonotic influenza spreads by contact with infected farmed animals, not by insufficient cooking, and E. coli spreads by animal farming contaminating plants that don't normally call for cooking.
Plus, cooking doesn't kill prions, and prions are horrifying.
This is the only actual solution. All of these diseases will continue because of our close proximity to animals, factory farming being the biggest offender.
We also breed super viruses by feeding the vast majority of our produced antibiotics to animals. Yeah, we need to stop eating animals and animal products as quickly as possible. There literally is no other way.
In a few years lab grown meat will be a solution to those who don't want to switch over to a plant-based diet, so there's that.
Exactly which disease outbreak was due to factory farming? SARS, Ebola, and Covid-19 were all caused by wild animals probably hunted/captured by sustenance farmers and kept in a dense, diverse essentially farmers market.
This is all the exact opposite of factory farming and the industrial food supply chain we have in the west.
Swine flu came from domestically raised pigs. Factory farming makes it more likely because the pigs are kept in close, confined quarters, increasing the spread between animals. The virus is passed from the animals to the farm workers.
Not this specific outbreak, but it was from the meat trade (wild caught or farmed). We keep stressed out animals in disgusting conditions in close proximity which is a breeding ground for disease. We then interact with them.
And of course, wild animals (like bats) can transmit diseases to other species (like pigs). Who can then transmit it to all the other pigs around it.
Then we pump them full of medication so they don't get sick, and end up creating antibiotic resistance.
Antibiotics cause super viruses. By killing bacteria? Umm, no.
This virus came from a wildlife market filled with multiple species stacked on top of each other. Let's not act like this is equivalent in danger to chicken/beef production.
Um, yes. If you keep taking the same antibiotics (or feeding them in huge quantities to livestock) then yes, new strains of viruses that are antibiotic resistant will emerge. That's how viruses work and evolve.
Otherwise we'd have discovered a flu vaccine and then no one would have ever gotten the flu again. Yet here we are. The virus evolves and changes over time.
To be fair, his point that it's dangerous stands. They do create super bacteria [1]. Of course, with bacteria, you'll experience it through an unlucky lottery rather than a pandemic.
How's it ignorant? I'd love for you to elaborate on that. Keeping stressed animals in close proximity in filthy conditions and packing them full of antibiotics is not good for anyone (especially the animals). It's a disease breeding ground and all the antibiotics breed antibiotic resistance.
All mosquitoes could be bad. We just need to eradicate the mosquitoes that feed off humans. Last I heard, they don't fill any particular important ecological niche which can't be filled by the other mosquitoes.
Are they the sole food source for some species? Could their niche be filled by something else? As other commenters pointed out, not all species of mosquito are harmful to humans so it could be a more targeted eradication.
Bats don't feed on anopheles mosquitoes. I'm sure some bats feed on some mosquitoes, but do any bats feed exclusively or primarily on mosquitoes that transmit malaria or yellow fever to humans?
Alright Captain Literal, but my point still stands that generally speaking, bats do consume mosquitos, maybe that _not that specific type_ of bat, or _that specific type of mosquito_, but yes, bats consume mosquitos.
Christ talking to people on this site is like talking to the most literal supernerd of all time who just needs to always have a point. It's like reddit 2.0.
Lol. I thought you were being kinda literal too. I obviously didn't mean eradicate all mosquitoes - just the species that hurt humans. So I felt the same way as you. That's kind of funny.
