Insects and HIV Transmission

HIV is a short for human immunodeficinecy virus. Infection with HIV, along with the syndrome that can accompany it (AIDS), is one of the most serious health risks facing the world. Currently there is no cure for HIV infection; at best, the symptoms can be managed to prevent weakening of the immune system. There are a number of ways in which an individual can become infected with HIV. One of the most common is via the exchange of bodily fluid through sexual contact with an infected person. HIV can also be contracted via sharing needles and syringes with an infected person, especially for IV drug use.

Because HIV can be spread via blood, there is some concern among the public and health officials that it could spread via other methods, such as insect bites. The theory is that if a mosquito bites an infected person and then bites a non-infected person, some infected blood that remains on the outside of the mosquito could be introduced into the uninfected person's bloodstream, causing them to become HIV positive. However, there is currently no evidence that this happens. The World Health Organization and other international scientific groups monitor the spread of HIV and have not found any evidence that it can be spread via insect bites. If this were to happen, the rate at which HIV spreads would be different than what is currently observed and would be noticed by these groups that carefully monitor cases of HIV around the world.

One reason why insect transmission is unlikely is that the virus cannot survive for very long outside of the human body (unless it is within a significant quantity of fluid), so even if it did get on the exterior of a mosquito's mouth, it would not be able to stay alive. In addition, the amount of blood that would adhere to the exterior of an insect is low, and the amount that could conceivably enter into the bloodstream would be even lower, making insect transmission difficult.