6 things and creatures whose danger you obviously underestimate
Miscellaneous / / June 27, 2023
We encounter them every day and do not even think about the fact that they can bring death.
1. stairs
Many people are afraid to ride the elevator. It's scary: the electricity will be turned off, and you will find yourself suspended over the abyss on cables in a metal box. Therefore, some (including the author of these lines) prefer not to use these lifting mechanisms.
Escalators cause people much less fear than elevators. In the latter, you are locked, but on a self-propelled ladder you remain in an open space, and a breakdown of the mechanism will not wall you up in a trap.
However, according to statistics, elevators are a safer way to move between floors. According to research, in the US, there are about 10,000 injuries per 35,000 escalators. And for 900,000 elevators - Total 7,000 cases.
The reason is simple: in an elevator, a person is isolated from mechanisms and machines, but not on an escalator.
Most often, people get injured on the walking belt when parts of their clothes, shoelaces or hair get caught in the comb or shafts that move the metal sheet of the steps. This leads to fractures, strangulation and even death. In an elevator, human negligence does not play a big role: you cannot damage the pulleys and blocks that move the cabin.
However, most injuries, according to data, published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, people get on the normal steps. On average, on the stairs injured... about 1,076,558 people a year, and that's just in the US. Where are the elevators and escalators combined.
2. Champagne
Alcohol causes serious harm to health. And not only when using it inside. By words Peter Kaiser, ophthalmologist from the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, one of the common reasons people go to the doctors on New Year's Eve is various eye injuries associated with... carelessness when opening champagne.
A cork that has flown into the face can cause fractures of the orbit or orbital bone, hemorrhage in the eye, retinal detachment and rupture of the iris and the wall of the eye.
You can say: what kind of idiot do you have to be to uncork sparkling wine, pointing the neck at your face?
Well, such unlucky individuals also occur, and they receive the most severe injuries. However, more often to eye and facial surgeons fall those who held the bottle, holding it up. It's all about the ricochet: the flying cork bounced off the ceiling and flew into the poor fellows' faces.
There is also a story on the Internet that bottles of champagne kill more people a year than poisonous spiders. There is no confirmation of this, however. Physicist Friedrich Balck of the Clausetal University of Technology measured cork take-off speed, and it turned out to be insufficient to break through human skull bones and reach brain. But this detail can seriously injure.
So open champagne carefully without shaking it. And pre-cool the drink - so less bubbles form.
3. Livestock
Australia has a reputation as a very inhospitable country, where all living creatures are trying to kill you in one way or another. Huge hairy spiders hide in slippers, and beautiful green lawns on the lawns near the houses are teeming with snakes.
But on statisticsAustralia's main danger is livestock. So, from 2008 to 2017, cows and horses jointly killed 77 people. During the same time, snakes killed 23 people, dogs - 22, and spiders, which everyone is so afraid of, has not been killed at all since the 70s.
This, by the way, is not so much - after all, equestrian sports are not as popular in Australia as they are in the USA. There from accidents with horses annually about 100 people die. But American cows, apparently, are a little kinder than Australian ones, because kill only 22 people a year.
In general, be careful and, if possible, do not get too close to ungulates, regardless of where you live - in Australia, America or in the Moscow region. You will be more whole. Even if Genghis Khan, the greatest rider in history, died after fall from a horse, then we, mere mortals, should completely stay away from these creatures.
4. Water
Water is known to be the source of life. But don't let that innocent-looking substance sloshing around in the glass fool you! In fact, before you is an insidious killer.
Statistics WHO shows that drowning in 2019, for example, 236,000 people died, almost 8% of the total deaths. Very often, its cause is an insufficiently serious attitude towards water. For example, swimming alone and diving after drinking alcohol.
In addition, water can also be poisoned if it is dirty. And this is the cause of even more deaths. For example, by data According to the same WHO, in 2020, dirty water killed 485,000 people - more than wars (8,200) and natural disasters (87,400) in the same time.
And do not forget that even the cleanest water can choke. A very insidious liquid.
Finally, some people suffer sickness called aquatic hives. When the skin comes into contact with the liquid, they experience excruciating itching and redness. Tap water, sea or swimming pool water, sweat, tears and saliva all irritate them.
In general, stay away from sin, keep contact with water to a minimum and drink only cola... It's a joke. Just be careful when you swim and boil or filter the liquid before drinking.
5. mosquitoes
These insects are considered annoying by most people, but generally harmless. When a small child is afraid of injections, they even reassure him with the phrase "like a mosquito bites." But in fact, these bloodsuckers are ferocious predators, which can be called without exaggeration the most dangerous living creatures in the world.
By estimated Bill Gates Foundation, diseases that spread mosquitoeskill 725,000 people a year. For comparison: on average, people themselves commit about 475,000 domestic murders during the same time.
In general, mosquitoes clearly demonstrate who is the dominant species on our planet.
Most of these insects are vegetarians, but their females drink blood during gestation and laying eggs to get the protein they need. At the same time they smash fever malaria, lymphatic filariasis, dengue virus, equine encephalitis virus (make no mistake, people die from it too), Zika virus and many other terrible and potentially fatal diseases.
And your pets, for example, mosquitoes can reward the so-called "heartworm" - a roundworm that affects the heart and pulmonary artery and causes congestive heart failure.
In general, buy repellent and fight with bloodsuckers wherever you meet them.
6. Dogs
What predator do you meet most often? WITH bear, lion or wolf? No, with an ordinary dog. For 12,000 years now, dogs have served us as protectors, companions, hunting assistants, and so on. But, despite our friendship, sometimes they become the cause of death of a person.
It is known that in the United States alone annually 30 to 50 people die from dog attacks. By statistics, the most dangerous breed is the pit bull, then - outbred mongrels, in third place - German shepherds. And all of them are capable of inflicting very serious injuries on people.
In addition, dogs can transfer people with different illnesses. They are the main transmitter of rabies to people in the world. Between 3 and 18% of dog bite wounds become infected, leading to meningitis, endocarditis, or septic shock.
Even if the dog is absolutely friendly towards you, but at the same time unhealthy, he may reward brucellosis, campylobacteriosis, tapeworms, echinococcus, giardiasis, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, ringworm deprive, salmonella, scabies and mites.
To to avoid all this, carefully monitor the health of the dog and do not neglect examinations at the veterinarian. Wash your hands and face after interacting with your pet, especially if he likes to lick you. Do not let the dog eat what he picks up on the street and fight with other dogs. And be careful when meeting with unfamiliar animals.
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