Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!ginosko!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!mmm
From: mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Mosquitos & AIDS
Message-ID: <21596@cup.portal.com>
Date: 26 Aug 89 00:31:35 GMT
References: <1989Aug23.144136.27580@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 21

> any evidence that mosquitos do transmit AIDS that I know of, only 
> that it does not seem impossible.
> 
> --Jim Rising

Of course the chance of infection is non-zero.  But bear in mind that the
chance is very low.  Do you think you could start a forest fire with
a single match?  It is important to tell the public the chance is zero
because any non-zero figure might cause an inappropriate reaction on the
part of the public.

For example, let's say mosquitoes (or if you read that article in Atlantic
Monthly, it seems more likely that lice would be a vector, rather than
mosquitoes) cause 1 AIDS case in the U.S. each year.  Would you really
advocate quarantine for the tens of thousands of AIDS patients because of
that?  Or the millions of HIV positive people?

Please don't call it suppressing the evidence.  Call it benign neglect.
The sort of benign neglect we need more of, not less.  We need it for the
infinitesimal risk from Alar, nuclear power plants, etc.  Let's save
our scare stories for the real stuff, like tobacco and drunk driving.