If mosquito's can carry the malaria virus, then why should we NOT think they can carry the HIV or AIDS virus?

Answer 1

Because blood borne viruses and parasites behave differently.

When a mosquito bites you, it injects its saliva to temporarily numb the bite, and it swallows your blood. This blood is digested, and any virus (like HIV) is not going to survive the process.

Parasites, on the other hand, have multiple life stages. If a mosquito ingests a malaria parasite, it's going to reproduce in the mosquito, and new parasites will end up in the mosquito's saliva to infect the next bite. The life cycle of malaria is quite complex.

Answer 2

First and foremost mosquitoes only transmit protozoa not parasites when you talk about Malaria (plasmodium parasite). Second, viruses like many infectious agents are specialized for different cells or different systems. There is no way you will get the flu if you rub it on your skin as long as it does not get to your respiratory tract. Similarly, HIV needs at least CD4 receptor to infect a cell. It is almost certain that a vector (eg mosquito) that would habor HIV would have some particular target cell for this virus. What evidence is there for this? The fact that mosquito carries other viruses does not guarantee that mosquitoes hence will transmit all blood borne diseases for the above reason. Why just HIV? Have you ever thought about active hepatitis or any other viral or even bacterial disease agent?
I believe that the main misconception about mosquitoes is that they inject blood into its victim. The truth is like someone put it that mosquito wants to take a blood meal and in so doing inject saliva that may carry plasmodium sporozoites that end up causing malaria.

Answer 3

It's not about the mosquito, it's about the virus. Even if a mosquito was to bite someone with HIV/AIDS, and then immediately come and bite you, there is not enough circulating virus to do anything.
To get an HIV infection, there needs to be significant exposure- this requires three things:
1) large amount of blood/body fluid
2) large bore needle (or other mode for entry)
3) deep penetrating wound/body site (mosquitos can't do this either)

Answer 4

Malaria is a parasite, which makes it much sturdier than a virus. You've gotten a lot of good answers as to why mosquitoes don't transfer the virus, but if you're still having trouble believing it, then approach the question from the other direction. Look at the distribution of HIV around the world, and the mosquito populations. You'll see that there's no correlation.

Answer 5

This question was asked a while ago...

The HIV/ AIDS virus cannot survive outside the human body for a long period of time. So when blood is sucked out of a person who has HIV/ AIDS, the virus quickly dies off, long before the mosquito can carry it to another person. There has been no evidence or recorded case of HIV/ AIDS being transferred to a human by a mosquito, so you shouldn't worry about getting the virus from one.

Answer 6

Even in theory, it would be very unlikely that HIV could be spread in such a fashion. With malaria and other insect-borne infections, the organisms survive and actually multiply in the insect. HIV, in contrast, does not survive outside the body for very long, and it does not replicate in insects. In addition, mosquitoes transmit malaria and other infections when they inject saliva into the victim. HIV does not get into the insect's saliva much at all, and mosquitoes do not inject blood into the victim. Furthermore, blood that remains on the bug's mouth or other body parts after it bites an AIDS victim also does not pose much risk, because the amount of blood present is very small, and the insect usually does not go directly from one feeding to another.
I add a link with details of the facts about becoming infected with HIV / AIDS

http://www.youthcomm.org/
NYC%20Features/April2004/
NYC-2004-04-14a.htm

Hope this helps
matador 89

Answer 7

The short answer is, they can. But...If HIV infected blood is taken up by a mosquito the virus is treated like food and digested along with the blood meal. If the mosquito takes a partial blood meal from an HIV positive person and resumes feeding on a non-infected individual, insufficient particles are transferred to initiate a new infection. If a fully engorged mosquito with HIV positive blood is squashed on the skin, there would be insufficient transfer of virus to produce infection. The virus diseases that use insects as agents of transfer produce tremendously high levels of parasites in the blood. The levels of HIV that circulate in human blood are so low that HIV antibody is used as the primary diagnosis for infection.

jj

Answer 8

I do believe it's because the malarial virus (among others like West Nile Virus) can survive in a mosquito and the HIV and AIDS virus cannot. Even those mosquito borne viruses choose which type of mosquito they can survive in meaning only certain types of mosquitoes can carry certain viruses.

Answer 9

Supposedly insects cannot "get" HIV and insects do not inject blood into humans, they inject saliva. My question however, is if a mosquito bites you and you have HIV, then immediately lands on me and bites me, isn't there the possibility that there is some blood still on it from you? According to what I have read mosquitos do not travel from person to person. It is not stated what evidence there is of this. I still reserve the right to doubt.