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© 2007 Abesha Care Inc. All Right Reserved. office@abeshacare.org
No. From the start of the HIV epidemic there has been concern
about HIV transmission from biting and bloodsucking insects, such
as mosquitoes. However, studies conducted by the CDC and
elsewhere have shown no evidence of HIV transmission from
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
| Content Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Divisions of HIV/AIDS Prevention National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention |
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 | Can I get HIV from mosquitoes? | |