Is the spread of viruses from mosquitoes significant?
savidge at unb.ca
Mon Jun 24 14:05:24 EST 2002
For those of us who spend a fair amount of time out-of-doors, it's not at
all uncommon to see mosquitos settle on you that are already partially
filled with blood, and there doesn't seem to be any doubt that viruses
circulate in blood. If you're standing beside another person and both are
dislodging mosquitos during vain attempts to squash them, it seems to me
that there's a very good chance that one which was sucking on someone else
could begin taking your blood. Thus, the key question would seem to be
whether people-hopping mosquitos can inject, as well as extract, blood and
any viruses that may be in the blood.
At 08:15 PM 24/06/2002 +0200, you wrote:
>I was just talking with someone about the threat of getting viruses from
>mosquito bites. Can for example HIV and hepatitis C be transfered from one
>person to another through such bites? Does any virus use this method of
>transfer as its main route? What is the main difference in viruses that
>are able to use mosquitoes as vectors compared to those that can't,are
>they more stable or just more efficient at infecting a new host?
>Trond Erik Vee Aune
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