The importance of this subject is underestimated and applies as well quite independently of whether humans eat the insects directly or not.

Consider the cuban tree frog for example, which has long since initiated its campaign in Florida to host and spread throughout the food chain the rat lungworm nematode. Rat lungworm (angiostrongylus) holds its own in the burgeoning presence of hideous and hostile parasites. It is highly infectious to many species and no picky eater, as it favors the entire body of the host, the brain and all.

Burmese pythons are another up and coming host in Florida, and while they might prefer a provincial life in the everglades, many other species will meander north and onward.

There are other nasties from nematodes to cestodes and more, gaining new ground. Baylisascaris procyonis is another terrible nematode found almost anywhere in the US, mostly in racoons, but in other species (humans included) with more varying and less frequency and it's often incurable.

A study showed that, if I remember correctly, 40 out of 250 wildlife rehabilitation personnel had been exposed, but symptoms varied by exposure load. Both rat lungworm and baylis ascaris are resistant to environmental elements that normally break things down, with baylis even surviving UV light, formaldehyde and extreme cold. Rat lungworm can be deposited on surfaces (eg vegetables), and snails are common vectors.

Lungworm is very difficult to remove by washing while baylis is so adhesive that wildlife control authorities advise disposing of rather than washing shovels or tools exposed to racoon latrines. The list goes merrily along with other nasties, but it would require time to refresh my memory and accurately describe more.

... the conclusion I got: don't move to Florida.

Can you ELI5 what risk these pose to humans or species in close proximity to us?

Hmm. That would come with the more frightening risk of HN community scrutiny, a sort of indelible scabies of the retrospective consciousness. What the hell..

If you're 5, or any age with a palate for insects, especially centipedes [1], cook them first or consider sugar free gummy worms until mom can prepare them properly.

More seriously, it depends largely on behavior, ie personal hygiene, industrial standards, awareness, etc. Some factors are potentially impossible to control, such as invasive species or other environmental factors.

There are older reports similar to [1] where children initiated the infection (of lungworm and other deleterious parasites) by consuming insects, and in some cases spread them to adults. There are many cases of vegetables infecting people too, eg lungworm in Hawaii [2]. Also many other species in man..most other countries.

In one study I read, a large and eclectic sample of vegetables and fruits from scattered European countries showed a high prevalence of infectious parasites in a significant percentage of the batch. Similar studies showed similar and worse elsewhere. One particularly interesting study found a vegetable farm which was frequently down wind of a kennel housing a large number of x (I've forgotten the animal type). The crop was riddled with wind-disseminated infectious parasites -- I forget the type, but it was nasty and somewhat impervious to the elements.

Invasive species, interference with wildlife, development, animal agriculture proximal to veg ag, climate and much more is involved. For anyone who realizes it as a formidable danger, I think the risk is smaller. For most, it's probably not large, but growing and, I personally believe, an insidious factor behind some misdiagnosed conditions.

Parasites are everywhere, with most posing minimal risk. Pinworms, for example, infect a surprising portion of the mighty and developed US population, which is why you can find pinworm medicine on the shelves of any pharmacy. They often go unnoticed, but in some, cause severe itching and further complications if untreated over many years. Children are common carriers and the eggs can be spread on/via dust particles that enter the nose, and by the very fingers that scratch the itch. Thankfully, a single dose of parantel pamoate and a thorough housecleaning usually eradicates the problem.

If you do vist Florida, which has been ill-advised by my HN editor[3], watch what you eat raw. Raw panther would be a great way to get trichinosis, with +20% of them carrying it. Wild hogs too, which is often where the panthers get it. Whether in Florida or Florence, raw foods pose risk, which sucks because they can also be the healthiest.

Indoor/outdoor pets are a difficult situation too. There are more and less serious threats here. I remember finding my best friend with little grains of rice crawling all over his arse. They are a form of tapeworm where fleas are the vector. Oddly, I could have eaten one if I so chose and have remained unaffected. However, if I'd eaten an infected flea, I'd be infected. The progottids of that particular species generally need to be ingested while inside the flea for it to settle in a new host. Edit: If the cat had laid in or passed over infected raccoon droppings, things could be much worse (think baylisascaris p). The mentioned tapeworms were easily eradicated with a single dose. Nothing works well on the former.

Most American health professionals will dismiss the risk of parasites as trivial, if that is any consolation. But if you prefer to pursue your concern, there is much to read and learn, from entertaining videos of people examining live worms in their restaurant sushi or wriggling through the salmon at Costco, to hard scientific studies and case reports of human and animal infections of many varieties everywhere in the world.

If I've failed to ELI5 or convoluted the subject, it's because it's a huge subject and I'm a mnemonically challenged dilettante with one finger to communicate with today. My advice is to not panic, don't develop complexes, and instead, be aware and learn and apply what you learn practically. And to be extra safe, avoid Florida -- it's getting crowded anyway.

1. https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/centipedes-can...

2. https://health.hawaii.gov/docd/disease_listing/rat-lungworm-...

3. Thanks to all for the feedback, attempted defense from it, and the editing. Sometimes I'm very fond of the folks on HN.

Two years ago I was bitten by many, many triatomines in a subtropical environment and have recently been seeing symptoms similar to chagas disease, but no doctor I've spoken to is interested in testing for it. I understand it's not an everyday concern, buy the resistance to even try surprises me.

Scopolamine and a cattle prod? Actually, if you travelled internationally, it shouldn't take more than a polite request.

I sincerely hope your fears are in vain. I know very little of chagas disease, but it seems early treatment is the most effective treatment. If you have it, you've wasted precious time.

Hindsight would have you plowing through such resistance and demanding the desired tests as you deserve. Perhaps you were too timid. This is slightly odd, with international travel being about the only thing that would have most American doctors considering parasites.

But it's two years after the fact. If I were in such a position, I would resolve to allay my fears and wrest a sure conclusion from the medical bureaucracy. I would take notes of all my symptoms, a chronology of progression, and also adequately inform and prepare myself to hold a compelling dialog with the doctor. Screw their interest. You are the patient and they have responsibilities beyond hurling pills at rote and familiar illnesses. If you test positive, then you may have lawsuit material. If you don't, it may be time to explore other causes or solutions to what ails you, and crucially, you'll have peace of mind about that specific fear. So if you are truly concerned, go demand a test.

There's definitely ample credible evidence that the risk is significant and your concerns valid.

I thank you for reminding me of this insect and the protozoa it carries. Credible sources claim it too will be posing problems, increasingly. Current policy, unfortunately, isn't considering it yet. The rising presence of the problem coupled with the tendency for initially asymptomatic infections but often inevitable demise of the host should be taken seriously.

I've never encountered any references to rednecks and baylis, but I've met some that, in hindsight, might clarify and reinforce your note.

Have you considered using newlines or breaks?

You probably have amazing ideas and more people would read them if it was easier to read

(my 2c)

You will see a noticeable uptick in engagement with your comments on this website if you add newlines for emphasis, clarity, and readability. You don't necessarily need to put them between every sentence. There is a bit of finesse involved.

That being said, the comment is so excellent and information dense that it largely escapes this potential pitfall.

Twice

Being able to read large chunks of text with minimal or no formatting is useful, but so is knowing how to format the text you produce so it's easier for people to consume. We should all strive to be capable of both.

Do you write code this way?

That's a very strange argument - would you apply it to coding too? Perhaps remove comments so people are forced to interpret the code alone.

Also I'm not against proper formatting of posts. Just if it's not separated in paragraphs readers should so the small effort of doing it mentally, instead of complaining. Similarly I'm not against code comments (but strongly in favour).

Btw I replied for the sake of argumenting but the two things are not comparable. Just so this test: splitting text written by others in paragraphs is a very easy task you can do just reading the text one time. Commiting code you don't yet understand is impossible: many informations you should write are not implicitly in the code. It's the contrary actually: most good comments are about things that are not evident.

I still don't agree with your point fundamentally, but I appreciate your work immensely, and that is far more important.

Gatekeeping perhaps? Surely that's not the argument that you're making.

Literacy needs to be handled in primary and secondary school.

Redis is an excellent codebase and an extremely useful piece of software. I am a very grateful user.

I'm just mystified by the idea that functions, modules, and paragraphs are not only useful, but expected, while newlines in HN comments are not.

The best answer I can come up with is that internet etiquette and formatting is constantly evolving. If that's the case, I don't see the issue with suggesting a formatting that might be more effective or accessible.

Neither do I, as I'm up-thread with the same point. I just thought it was sort of funny. :)

1) higher resolution (printed letters are better seen by the eye than the average letter on a screen)

2) narrower lines (easier to spot the next line)

3) at least a bit more spacing between lines

Finally, when the topic is not fiction, but stuff that requires a lot of attention to digest, perhaps paragraphs and newlines can improve the reading experience.

p.s. you probably meant offense with an "s" (I used to do the same typo, and we're both Italians)

Though anyone reading using a wide browser window on a desktop will be facing long lines; don't blame the big paragraph for poor readability due to line length.

I think that's a poor example - Moby Dick isn't exactly praised for ease of casual reading (and internet comments should definitely fall in the category of casual reading. Relative ease is a choice, and the parent comment was just suggesting that the other comment would find wider reach if it were easier to parse)

> I'm with Antirez here: dumb Americans who can't read and all that

Oh

DURING the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. I know not how it was—but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit. I say insufferable; for the feeling was unrelieved by any of that half-pleasurable, because poetic, sentiment, with which the mind usually receives even the sternest natural images of the desolate or terrible. I looked upon the scene before me—upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain—upon the bleak walls—upon the vacant eye-like windows—upon a few rank sedges—and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees—with an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream of the reveller upon opium—the bitter lapse into every-day life—the hideous dropping off of the veil. There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart—an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime. What was it—I paused to think—what was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the House of Usher? It was a mystery all insoluble; nor could I grapple with the shadowy fancies that crowded upon me as I pondered. I was forced to fall back upon the unsatisfactory conclusion, that while, beyond doubt, there are combinations of very simple natural objects which have the power of thus affecting us, still the analysis of this power lies among considerations beyond our depth. It was possible, I reflected, that a mere different arrangement of the particulars of the scene, of the details of the picture, would be sufficient to modify, or perhaps to annihilate its capacity for sorrowful impression; and, acting upon this idea, I reined my horse to the precipitous brink of a black and lurid tarn that lay in unruffled lustre by the dwelling, and gazed down—but with a shudder even more thrilling than before—upon the remodelled and inverted images of the gray sedge, and the ghastly tree-stems, and the vacant and eye-like windows.

Isn't it much easier to make an easy neutral change to your writing that will be positive for some readers than to assert their culture should learn to read better?