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Can I get
infected with HIV from mosquitoes?
No. From the start of the
HIV epidemic there has been concern about HIV transmission of
the virus by biting and bloodsucking insects, such as mosquitoes.
However, studies conducted by the CDC and elsewhere have shown
no evidence of HIV transmission through mosquitoes or any other
insects - even in areas where there are many cases of AIDS and
large populations of mosquitoes. Lack of such outbreaks, despite
intense efforts to detect them, supports the conclusion that
HIV is not transmitted by insects.
The results of experiments
and observations of insect biting behavior indicate that when
an insect bites a person, it does not inject its own or a previously
bitten person's or animal's blood into the next person bitten.
Rather, it injects saliva, which acts as a lubricant so the insect
can feed efficiently. Diseases such as yellow fever and malaria
are transmitted through the saliva of specific species of mosquitoes.
However, HIV lives for only a short time inside an insect and,
unlike organisms that are transmitted via insect bites, HIV does
not reproduce (and does not survive) in insects. Thus, even if
the virus enters a mosquito or another insect, the insect does
not become infected and cannot transmit HIV to the next human
it bites.
There also is no reason
to fear that a mosquito or other insect could transmit HIV from
one person to another through HIV-infected blood left on its
mouth parts. Several reasons help explain why this is so. First,
infected people do not have constantly high levels of HIV in
their blood streams. Second, insect mouth parts retain only very
small amounts of blood on their surfaces. Finally, scientists
who study insects have determined that biting insects normally
do not travel from one person to the next immediately after ingesting
blood. Rather, they fly to a resting place to digest the blood
meal. |
