Do Insects Spread HIV?
Mosquito After more than a decade of investigation and research, entomologists and medical scientists have found no evidence that mosquitoes or any other insects transmit HIVthe AIDS virus. In the case of mosquitoes, for instance, the insect’s mouth parts are not like a syringe with a single opening through which blood could be reinjected. Rather, mosquitoes draw blood in through one passage while delivering saliva through another. Then, explains Thomas Damasso, an HIV specialist with the District Health Management Team in Mongu, Zambia, the mosquito’s digestive system breaks down the blood, destroying the virus. HIV is not found in insect feces. And unlike malaria parasites, HIV does not get into the mosquito’s salivary glands. To acquire HIV, a person must be exposed to a large number of infectious particles. If a mosquito’s meal is interrupted and it flies directly to another victim, any amount of blood that might remain on its mouth parts would be too small to be significant. Accor
After more than a decade of investigation and research, entomologists and medical scientists have found no evidence that mosquitoes or any other insects transmit HIVthe AIDS virus. In the case of mosquitoes, for instance, the insect’s mouth parts are not like a syringe with a single opening through which blood could be reinjected. Rather, mosquitoes draw blood in through one passage while delivering saliva through another. Then, explains Thomas Damasso, an HIV specialist with the District Health Management Team in Mongu, Zambia, the mosquito’s digestive system breaks down the blood, destroying the virus. HIV is not found in insect feces. And unlike malaria parasites, HIV does not get into the mosquito’s salivary glands. To acquire HIV, a person must be exposed to a large number of infectious particles. If a mosquito’s meal is interrupted and it flies directly to another victim, any amount of blood that might remain on its mouth parts would be too small to be significant. According to e
