can you get aids from a mosquito?

username n/a · #1 06-21-2008, 07:43 PM

Like if it bites somebody with AIDS and then it bites you can you get AIDS?

Trevorus · #2 06-21-2008, 07:43 PM

http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~insects/aids.htm

McDreads · #3 06-21-2008, 08:23 PM

If you use a condom, you won't.

FL Knifemaker · #4 06-21-2008, 08:31 PM

Only if the mosquito has been engaged in high risk sex or shared needles.

A mosquito doesn't have enough body heat to allow the aids virus to live. It seems like if it happend fast enough it could happen, I can't understand why not

RWP · #5 06-21-2008, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FL Knifemaker

Only if the mosquito has been engaged in high risk sex or shared needles.

A mosquito doesn't have enough body heat to allow the aids virus to live. It seems like if it happend fast enough it could happen, I can't understand why not

I agree. A syringe needle doesn't have body heat, yet it's a HUGE problem.

Curtybob · #6 06-21-2008, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trevorus

http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~insects/aids.htm

That just seems like an anti-scare tactic. To me, it makes absolutely no sense that a mosquito doesn't pick up enough infected material to spread HIV, but a needle can. Or that a mosquito doesn't have enough body heat to sustain the virus, but a needle does? And that you have to get bitten by 10 million mosquitos to get HIV? That's horribly wrong. It's like saying that because the ratio of having sex to impregnation is 125:1, that you have to have sex 125 times before you have to worry about getting one pregnant.

It closes with a paragraph about how mosquitos and needles are different. But a needle contacts potentially infected tissue and fluid, and so does a mosquito. So yes, they are different, and serve different purposes. But, they play in the same playground, and get the same dirt on their faces.

Ericman197 · #7 06-21-2008, 11:24 PM

I have no idea why it is exactly that mosquitos can't transmit HIV, but when you look at the numbers, it's pretty unlikely. As far as I know, no one has ever gotten HIV from a mosquito.

Here's the breakdown of HIV transmission:

As you can see, all other causes are ~1%. This includes transmission from mother to child, really bizarre accidents, blood transfusions, accidental needle sticks, etc.

Needle sticks, although treated very seriously, rarely transmit HIV. The stats are a bit tricky since there were only 55 documented needle stick HIV transmissions between 1985 and 1999, but the odds are estimated to be about 0.3% IF the person has HIV. It's almost unheard of for someone to get HIV from a needle stick, but it has happened.

So take that for what it is. The odds of getting hepatitis from a needle stick are much higher, and as far as I know, people don't get hepatitis from mosquitoes.

I wouldn't worry about it.

Trevorus · #8 06-21-2008, 11:30 PM

Think about the needle vs mosquito thing. A mosquito sticks into dermal layers, whereas a needle is put into blood vessels directly. Much more blood contact, therefore much more virus contact. Also, as the article states, a mosquito sucks blood, it doesn't push anything but it's own saliva into you. A needle that has been reused will have a bit of fluid inside the needle, no matter how hard you push the plunger. So, there is much greater risk of contamination.

peterbright · #9 06-22-2008, 06:57 AM

Mosquitos transmit disease by injecting their saliva that contains the pathogen (malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever, west nile virus, etc) into a human. HIV does not have the ability to get to the mosquito's salivary glands so it's not in the proper place to accomplish infection. Why do they inject their saliva? The saliva contains an anticoagulant & deadener so the blood doesn'r clot & you don't feel it as much. That's why you get a welt and itch...it's an allergic reaction to that foreign protein being injected into you.

Nurses getting stuck with needles only become HIV infected 1 in every 300 times. The amount of HIV on the mosquito mouth parts just isn't sufficient to infect. If mosquitos transmitted HIV, we'd all be infected. Typically, there is much more blood present in a syringe that's being shared to shoot drugs.