You can't catch AIDS from a mosquito bite
 Q:
Can you catch AIDS from a mosquito bite? -Jeannine, Albuquerque, New Mexico
A: No. "You won't get HIV [the virus that causes AIDS] from a mosquito bite. HIV does not live in a mosquito, and
it is not transmitted through a mosquito's bite like other germs, such as the ones that cause malaria. You won't get it
from bedbugs, lice, flies, or other insects, either," says the American Medical Association.
Right: [© Scott Camazine, used with permission, Penn State University] Mosquito, an insect pest
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the lead federal agency for protecting the health of Americans
at home and abroad, has studied insect transmission of HIV and found no evidence even in areas where many people
have AIDS and large mosquito populations exist. The amounts of blood involved in a mosquito bite are too small. The
HIV virus, moreover, is too weak to survive long in a mosquito.
"The overwhelming scientific evidence is that HIV is fragile and highly susceptible to physical and chemical agents and
therefore does not survive well outside the human body," says the CDC.
(Answered by April Holladay, science correspondent, October 24, 2001)
Further Surfing:
AMA: HIV/AIDS patient education
MSNBC: news, answers to your HIV/AIDS questions
CDC: FAQs about HIV/AIDS
U of Pennsylvania: Mosquitoes
USATODAY.com: AIDS- from rare disease to 22 million dead
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