Despite the wealth of available evidence to show that the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is NOT transmitted by insects, one question is still being frequently asked by many people--"Can I get AIDS from a mosquito bite?"
Recent research at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, GA, has again confirmed that although mosquitoes spread other diseases such as yellow fever and malaria, they do not transmit HIV and neither do other insects.
HIV has been shown not to multiply in mosquito cells,* neither does it pass from the gut to the salivary glands. Without such migration, no exchange of contents can occur between the gut and the salivary glands which are completely separate inside a mosquito's body. Thus HIV cannot be injected into another person through saliva (See Figure1).
INSUFFICIENT TO INFECT
Further evidence that insects cannot transmit HIV comes from calculations concerning the amount of infected blood that would have to be transmitted to result in infection. When HIV transmission occurs during sexual intercourse, transfusion of contaminated blood or sharing needles, it does so because a sufficient dose of the virus is transmitted. One virus alone would be insufficient to cause infection.
Researchers believe that at least 0.1 ml. of blood is probably needed to produce infection.**
Calculations show that even if the entire contents of the bug's mouth parts and food channel were transferred to a second person after feeding on a subject with 10 infectious doses of HIV in each milliliter of blood, then about 1,400 infected bugs would have to bite to transfer one infectious dose of virus.
From their own work and an extensive review of the scientific literature, the CDC researchers conclude that there is no evidence that insects transmit HIV.
References:
* P. Plot and O. Schorield, No Evidence for arthropod transmission of AIDS, Parasitology Today, 1986, Vol 2, No 11, p. 294
** A code of practice for the safe use and disposal of Sharps, June 1990, the British Medical Association, BMA House, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9JP.
[This report was supplied to CAREC buy the Academy for Educational Development/AIDSCOM]
