Living in a place with few poisonous species

I just watched The African Queen with Bogart and Hepburn. The movie was filmed in England and Africa in 1951 in a lush jungle setting. There was one scene showing them being attacked by bugs and another with leeches. Throughout the movie, I kept thinking of how many nasty critters, bugs & diseases there must have really been there.

Western Washington is blessed with an absence of nasty critters. Our worst pests in the summer are mosquitoes—even then they don't carry malaria or other major diseases. Bees are the most poisonous thing most people will ever see in these parts. They are not killer bees from Africa either.

I am grateful for the lack of nasty critters & bugs in Western Washington.