Do you have questions about mosquitoes? A great resource is the FAQ’s section you can find on the American Mosquito Control Association website.
You might want to know –
What good do mosquitoes do?
Mosquitoes fill a variety of niches which nature provides. As such, placing a value on their existence is generally inappropriate. Although the fossil record is incomplete, they have been known since the Cretaceous Period (about 100 million years ago) in North America. Their adaptability has made them extraordinarily successful, with upwards of 2,700 species worldwide. Mosquitoes serve as food sources for a variety of organisms but are not crucial to any predator species.
or–
Can mosquitoes transmit AIDS?
Many studies have been conducted on this issue in the United States and abroad. To our kowledge, there has never been a successful transfer of the virus from an infected source to another host by bloodfeeding insects under experimental conditions. The experts have concluded that these insects are not capable of such transmission. Many biological reasons would lead one to this same conclusion, but the extensive experimental studies are the most powerful evidence for the conclusion.
- HIV DOES NOT replicate in mosquitoes. Thus, mosquitoes cannot be a biological vector as they are for malaria, yellow fever, or dengue. In fact, mosquitoes digest the virus that causes AIDS.
- There is no possibility of mechanical transmission (i.e., flying contaminated syringes), even though we all know that HIV can be transmitted by dirty needles. However, the amount of “blood” on a mosquitoes’ mouth parts is tiny compared to what is found on a “dirty” needle. Thus, the risk is proportionally smaller. Calculations based on the mechanical transmission of anthrax and Rift Valley fever virus, both of which produce very high titers in blood, unlike HIV, showed that it would take about 10,000,000 mosquitoes that first fed on a person with AIDS and then continued feeding on a susceptible person to get one transmission.
- The bite wound is usually the normal route for most disease transmissions. Mosquitoes are not,however, flying hypodermic needles. Mosquitoes instead regurgitate saliva into the bite wound through a separate tube from that through which it imbibes blood.
These are just a few of the science-based facts you will see on this resourceful website.
