Mosquito and HIV

Did you know that HIV is not transmitted by mosquitoes?

There are a few factors supporting this statement, namely:

1) The body of a mosquito lacks cells with CD4 markers (or CD4 cells).
CD4 cells protects our body from intruders (i.e antigens).

HIV requires CD4 cells in order to replicate. Mosquitoes, bed bugs, fleas or other blood sucking insects lack CD4 cells, therefore the virus cannot replicate inside these arthropods.

2) Mosquitoes inject saliva that acts as an anticoagulant so that they can feed easily, they do not inject blood in to the next person bitten.

The mechanism may be represented by this:
Imagine two tubes, the 1st tube injects saliva into the person bitten, the 2nd tube sucks out blood.

It is different from a syringe whereby drug and blood mixes in the same hollow tube.


3) HIV-infected persons do not have constant, high levels of HIV in their bloodstreams.

4) Insect mouth parts do not retain large amounts of blood on their surfaces.

5) HIV does not reproduce inside the insect. In other words, the insect does not get infected by the virus, thus it cannot transmit HIV to the next human it feeds on/bites.


Source:
Can we get AIDS from mosquito bites?
FAQ's on Mosquitoes for NJMCA Web Page
HIV and Its Transmission: Factsheet by the CDC