Do Mosquitoes Give You HIV?
WouterDespite their name, mosquitoes are not bloodsucking insects, and they don’t give you HIV. However, they do carry some diseases, such as malaria.
There are several reasons why mosquitoes do not transmit HIV. For one, they cannot replicate the virus inside their gut. They also lack the cells that are needed to replicate the virus.
Another reason is that mosquitoes do not inject blood into their hosts. When they bite a person, they inject saliva instead. The saliva contains chemicals that prevent blood from clotting. It also contains anticoagulants. It is only when mosquitoes bite that the saliva enters the host’s body.
If mosquitoes were to inject blood, it would take many bites to infect a person. If they did, the number of mosquitoes needed to transmit a single unit of HIV would be ten million.
It would also take many bites for a mosquito to be fully engorged with HIV positive blood. This would mean that the mosquito would never be able to transfer enough virus to initiate infection.
Mosquitoes cannot transmit HIV because they do not have the necessary T-cells. T-cells are the white blood cells that are responsible for fighting infections. In order to replicate HIV, mosquitoes need to have specialized cells that are only found in humans. They are able to bind to the receptor called CD4 on T-cell surfaces.
To replicate, HIV must reach the salivary glands of another host. Mosquitoes cannot reach these glands, because they are not part of the insects’ digestive system.
