Whether gonorrhoea, syphilis or chlamydia: we have become accustomed to increasing numbers of infections in recent years. However, there is an opposing trend for one pathogen ... A witty commentary by Armin Schafberger
The crab seems to be threatened with extinction. For over three million years, it has accompanied its only host in all its intimacy. Now it shares the fate of many animal species: humans are destroying its habitat.
A research group led by Shamik Dholakia from Milton Keynes, north-west of London, has repeatedly interviewed almost 4,000 patients over a decade and documented the occurrence of crab lice infestations. According to her findings, new infestations of crabs fell dramatically between 2003 and 2013. At the beginning of the decade, 1.82 % were still infested by the pests every year, but by 2013 this figure had fallen to just 0.07 %. The mealybug seems to have almost completely disappeared from the Buckinghamshire area at least.
This is not due to a decline in sexual encounters - this is supported by increasing diagnoses of other sexually transmitted diseases. In addition, the crabs can also be transmitted without sex via bed linen or close contact.
But what could be the reason? The research group says that the louse has lost its habitat, i.e. its natural habitat.
During the study period, the number of those who still proudly wear their pubic hair at full length also fell. But where there's no hair, there's no opportunity to lay eggs - that's the end of the louse. The few who presented to the clinic with pubic lice infestation were found to have uncut pubic hair with an almost absolute certainty of almost 95 per cent.
It is estimated that 70 to 80 per cent of adults in the Anglo-American region remove all or part of their pubic hair. In the study group in Milton Keynes, the figure was as high as 85 per cent, although the patients were only 24 years young on average.
When asked about the reasons for pubic hair removal, two motives were cited: cosmetic and hygienic, with the cosmetic ones far outweighing the hygienic ones - with an upward trend. The research group blames this on media pressure and fashion.
Is there still hope for the louse? Or will it, like the lynx and bison, soon be one of the animal species that have disappeared from Europe? According to the researchers, it could switch to new habitats. Even today, it can make do with chest or beard hair if necessary.
So the fashion that condemned her to decline could also bring her salvation, because the beard is back in, at least since the last Eurovision Song Contest. And who knows: maybe the next Song Contest will also bring back pubic hair?
