#4. Freshwater Snails
Unexpectedly, the freshwater snail ranks as the second deadliest species in our list. Similar to the other less obviously dangerous species we have covered, it is not the sickness that the snail itself directly causes in humans, but rather the disease that it spreads. Schistosomiasis is a parasite infection that affects several million people annually, with 20,000 to 200,000 of those cases ending in death, according to estimates from the World Health Organization.
Infected people with schistosomiasis have severe stomach discomfort and blood in their urine, although it seldom results in death outside of impoverished nations. Unreliable government reporting and the dearth of medical treatment in these rural regions and developing countries are to blame for the broad range of potential fatalities.
#3. Dogs/Wolves
One of our worst threats is man’s closest buddy. Compared to the amount of fatalities brought on by rabies infections in dogs, direct deadly dog-on-wolf confrontations are incredibly uncommon. The active wolf packs that killed over 200 people annually in India during the 18th and 19th centuries are now gone, but the rabies virus still kills 40,000–50,000 people every year. Once more, the great majority of those fatalities occur outside of first-world nations and are due to a lack of access to cutting-edge medical treatment. Although wolf-to-dog rabies transmission is significantly lower than that of dogs, it is nonetheless there.
