Post Date July, 14 2023
In the early days when AIDS was discovered, some tabloids would publish articles about whether mosquitoes could transmit AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, AIDS), so as to attract public attention and stimulate circulation. This topic started from a small community in southern Florida, because there are signs that mosquitoes may be related to the high incidence rate of AIDS in the local area.
The media immediately claimed that mosquitoes were related to AIDS infection. However, the scientific investigation by the National Center for Disease Control (CDC) at that time had proved that mosquitoes had nothing to do with AIDS infection. Nevertheless, the media has made many people feel that mosquitoes can infect AIDS.
Research results show that mosquitoes cannot transmit HIV
1. HIV is digested in mosquitoes
Pathogens must remain active during mosquito transmission in order to be transmitted to the host. If mosquitoes digest the pathogen, the virus will not be transmitted to the next host. Usually, mosquito like infectious viruses have many ways to avoid decomposition. Some viruses are immune to mosquito Digestive enzyme. Most viruses will pass through the mosquito's stomach quickly to avoid being decomposed by strong Digestive enzyme. The malaria parasite can survive in the mosquito's stomach for 9 to 12 days, completing necessary changes during this process. Encephalitis pathogens have a incubation period of 10 to 25 days inside mosquitoes, during which they multiply and divide extensively. Research has proved that HIV and blood are digested together in mosquitoes. Mosquitoes will digest the pathogen within one or two days after inhaling HIV infected blood, and it is impossible to re infect. Since the virus cannot reproduce, it enters the mosquito's digestive gland. HIV cannot be transmitted from the host. Many mosquito parasites can transmit HIV through this recipe.
2. Mosquitoes don't have enough HIV to be infected every time they suck blood
The concentration of pathogens in the blood is high enough, and the virus can spread between different hosts, which means there are enough pathogens to infect. The minimum number of pathogens required for different infectious diseases varies. The level of HIV in the blood is lower than that of all known mosquito infectious diseases. Infected individuals with 10 units of virus in their blood are rare, with virus levels in the blood of 70% to 80% of infected individuals being negligible.
Data shows that after absorbing 1000 units of HIV, the probability that mosquitoes can transmit one unit of HIV to the next host is one in ten million. Obviously, uninfected people need to be bitten ten million times by mosquitoes who inhale the blood of infected people. Those infected with HIV in the workplace are not enough to be infected with AIDS after drinking HIV positive pathogens. In short, the possibility of AIDS transmission in this way is basically non-existent.
