Xref: utzoo sci.med:25683 sci.med.aids:2814 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!ucla-cs!usenet From: decwrl!well.sf.ca.us!well!pwallich@uunet.UU.NET (Paul Wallich) Newsgroups: sci.med,sci.med.aids Subject: Re: AIDS from insect bites Message-ID: <1991Jun14.121153.11084@cs.ucla.edu> Date: 13 Jun 91 21:02:31 GMT References: <1991Jun3.210223.3884@uoft02.utoledo.edu> <1991Jun9.031146.13314@cbnewse.att.com> <1991Jun12.020736.27657@cbfsb.att.com> Sender: usenet@cs.ucla.edu (Mr. News Himself) Organization: UCLA, Computer Science Department Lines: 17 Approved: phil@wubios.wustl.edu Note: non-commercial reproduction. Nntp-Posting-Host: squid.cs.ucla.edu Archive-Number: 3251 The strongest evidence that insects don't transmit HIV is epidemiological, and the detailed physical mechanisms come second. If insects could transmit the virus, then the pattern of disease in insect-ridden areas would match the pattern of people who get bitten by insects -- as the pattern of malaria infection does, for example. This means small children, older people, people living nearer to stagnant water for mosquitos e.g. and so forth. The pattern of HIV infection in insect-ridden areas is instead much like the pattern elsewhere: people who are sexually active & people who share needles. (That's the short version, of course. You can do it in longer version, but it's not really worth the trouble. Added to this, of course, is that HIV seems fairly difficult to transmit -- insofar as the blood- borne cases can be quantified, I think they all involve significantly more blood than one mosquito can carry.) paul