Ask A Scientist© Biology Archive

Author:      ranger
Text:        Since we know that when a mosquito puts the bite on someone or 
something, it injects some anticoagulant fluid to keep the blood flowing, why, 
then, could not a mosquito pass the Aids virus on to someone else after it had 
gotten some infected persons blood?

Response #:  1 of 2
Author:      psych
Text:        Your reasoning is logical.  There are two problems though, the 
more practical is that it would be hard to test, no one has shown that it is 
possible to transmit the HIV virus (which is thought to cause AIDS) via a 
mosquito vector or that someone's HIV infection is from a mosquito bite.  The 
other problem is that the HIV virus is a very fragile virus.  No one serious
ly believes that an HIV virus could be taken up by one mosquito and stay alive 
long enough in that mosquito to infect someone else.

Response #:  2 of 2
Author:      thomasb
Text:        Just to add fuel to the fire.  A recent report from the BBC on 
AIDS infected tribes in Africa indicated that some of the infected groups 
were, indeed, isolated and did not interact with other tribes, but still got 
the virus.  The health investigators asked how this could happen, the doctors 
said they did not know but they suspected the mosquito.  They said to date 
they had not found one carrying the virus but they were continuing their 
search.