can mosquito spread hiv?
- Thread starter Semon
- Start date
Nope, this was covered in another thread awhile back. I always thought the same thing. Because Malaria is spread by mosquitos. Turns out that Malaria is not a virus (don't know where I got the idea that it was), it's a parasite. It swims into the saliva glands of the mosquito. A virus wouldn't be able to do this and would end up in the gut of the mosquito and be destroyed.
None the less, West Nile is a virus and can be spread by mosquito.
Still, my understanding is that HIV cannot be spread by mosquito. But, I don't know what exactly the difference between HIV and West Nile is that allows one to be spread that way, while the other cannot be.
Still, my understanding is that HIV cannot be spread by mosquito. But, I don't know what exactly the difference between HIV and West Nile is that allows one to be spread that way, while the other cannot be.
Hmm, that's true. So some viruses can be spread by mosquito bite. Interesting. Is it possible that West Nile evolved to use mosquitos as a transport vector? So it survives the mosquito's digestive tract? But HIV didn't, so it doesn't? Maybe the mosquito actually becomes infected with West Nile? It would have to make it's way to its salivary glands I would think. The mosquito doesn't regurgitate into it's victims. It just injects a little saliva in to numb the bite. Anyone know about this stuff?
paulsamuel
Registered Senior Member
mosquitoes are a true vector of the WNV, i.e. they themselves are infected. HIV, OTOH, does not infect mosquitoes, so they are not a vector of the disease.
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/cerc/danoff-burg/invasion_bio/inv_spp_summ/WestNile.html
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/cerc/danoff-burg/invasion_bio/inv_spp_summ/WestNile.html
I heard that Ebola can be transmitted via mosquits too..........
Scary.....
Scary.....
the scary thing about mosquitoes is that they stick a "needle" in many people's bodies and suck their blood out, and if one of its victims has a virus, it will be carried by the mosquitoes' mouths to the next victim... it's like hospital using unsterile needles on patients...
If that were true, then Aids would be spreading a lot faster. I used to have a theory that mosquitos might somehow contain the cure, but since reading some of the posts here and there, I discount that. I'm sure that there's an infinitessimal chance of contracting a virus from a mosquito bite, just from residue on the proboscis. But the virus would be destroyed in the gut of the mosquito. The diseases that are spread by mosquitos evolved to be spread by mosquitos.
Well, most mosquitos do not bite multiple times. The female mosquito is the only one of the group that actually bites (or sucks). Since they rarely bite more than once ( to my knowledge ) then the virus being spreaded is an extremely rare thing happening. Note that when i say certain species only bite once, and certain species bite more than once, i am speaking in Alaskan terms, where the mosquitos fly in "black seas". Up here, a mosquito bites ONE time, then stops. The males do not bite.
West Nile (which is supposedly in my area at the moment) are two totoally different virii (is that the proper plural or am I just being too fussy?). I believe that the HIV virus needs a living host and the amount of blood that is left in a mosquito after it pricks an HIV positive patient and then is released is very little. WIth no carrier to keep the virus "active" and very little blood to start with, the mosquito will be harmless.
I get upset when people freak out about West Nile, you have more of a chance of dying from the common cold or a toothbrush accident than dying from West Nile. It is a bunch of hype. Most people won't even know that they got the virus because their immune system takes care of it.
I get upset when people freak out about West Nile, you have more of a chance of dying from the common cold or a toothbrush accident than dying from West Nile. It is a bunch of hype. Most people won't even know that they got the virus because their immune system takes care of it.
I think in West Niles case its the virus infects the mosquito, HIV probably does not and dies off in the digestive track.
I like virii but acording to the uptights its always ok to use a "es" and viruses in the proper term, though you will here a profession use the term "virii" from time to time even they argee the "viruses" is more commonly used.
I like virii but acording to the uptights its always ok to use a "es" and viruses in the proper term, though you will here a profession use the term "virii" from time to time even they argee the "viruses" is more commonly used.
There are viruses very similar to HIV that have evolved to be capable of this sort of transmission, it is not implausable that some time in the future HIV could do the same, as someone mentioned this probably means it would have to become capable of infecting the mosquito itself, but viruses of the same sort do use other methods to transmit themselves by insect bite too.