can anyone kindly provide me with some scientific basis?

[blacrooy]

hey,
i hope i dont offend anyone with this post, i realize there's people on here living with HIV and at serious risk for it. this post in comparison may seem silly but its been really consuming my thoughts lately.

anyways, I've read that human saliva is hypotonic to plasma and thus kills HIV. also that it contains very little salt and thus causes HIV infected cells to explode. andd i've read that there's numerous enzymes in saliva that inhibit HIV.
so, I've gotten a few mosquito's in the eye recently, as I drive a motorbike, and then got really sick about 2-3 weeks afterwards. When I asked a doctor if this was a risk for HIV if the mosquito got in my eye just after it had fed on an HIV positive individual, he informed me that it wasnt, but couldnt provide me with any reasoning. As much as I want to believe him, I can't help feel that his reasoning is based on the fact that it just hasn't been reported that way yet.
after some research, i've found a lot of information stating that mosquito's inject saliva while feeding as an anti-coagulant. ive searched but have been unable to find anything about whether mosquitoes saliva is also hypotonic, or if mosquito's saliva also contains very little salt like humans. i did find that mosquito's saliva contains an antimicrobial enzyme and an enzyme which breaks down sugar. i realize a mosquito's stomach acid would break down HIV, but i doubt it would do so fast enough to prevent infection in this manner

-can anyone provide me with any scientific explanation of how mosquito saliva is similar to human saliva in any of these respects? or if the enzymes a mosquito does have can kill HIV quickly enough for it to be impossible to pass in this manner? i really want to put this behind me, i feel like if i go and get tested then i will have to every time i get something in my eye, but i also feel like i cant put it to rest unless i get some real reasoning that isnt simply someone saying 'no risk' without an explanation.
any help would be utmost appreciated, i realize this question is quite technical, but i dont know any entomologists to ask about such things.

Thank you in advance!!!

[Ann]

Blacrooy,

I've edited your unauthorised post in someone else's thread. If you read the Welcome Thread before posting like you're supposed to, you will have read the following posting guideline:

Only those Moderators and members who are authorized to answer questions in the Am I Infected? forum are permitted do so. Unauthorized responses may be deleted without permission of the poster. Repeatedly posting replies of this nature may result in a Time Out or permanent ban, at the discretion of the Moderator Team.

Please consider yourself warned!



You've left me and another authorised poster speechless with your mosquito question. It's been known since the 1980s that mosquitoes - or any other insect or animal - cannot transmit hiv.

Simply put, hiv cannot remain viable outside of a very specific environment - the environment of the HUMAN body. That's why it's called the HUMAN immunodeficiency virus.

We're not here to give you a detailed virology lesson.

Getting a mosquito in your eye - or being bitten by one - is absolutely NO RISK for hiv infection. Again, we've known this for well over 25 years.

As an adult, you risk hiv infection through:

Unprotected anal intercourse.

Unprotected vaginal intercourse.

Sharing drug injecting equipment. The tube through which a mosquito feeds is NOT drug injecting equipment.

Here's what you need to know in order to avoid hiv infection:

You need to be using condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, every time, no exceptions until such time as you are in a securely monogamous relationship where you have both tested for ALL sexually transmitted infections together.

To agree to have unprotected intercourse is to consent to the possibility of being infected with an STI. Sex without a condom lasts only a matter of minutes, but hiv is forever.

Have a look through the condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use condoms with confidence.

ALTHOUGH YOU DO NOT NEED TO TEST FOR HIV BECAUSE YOU SMOOSHED A MOSQUITO IN YOUR EYE, anyone who is sexually active should be having a full sexual health care check-up, including but not limited to hiv testing, at least once a year and more often if unprotected intercourse occurs.

If you aren't already having regular, routine check-ups, now is the time to start. As long as you make sure condoms are being used for intercourse, you can fully expect your routine hiv tests to return with negative results.

Don't forget to always get checked for all the other sexually transmitted infections as well, because they are MUCH easier to transmit than hiv. Some of the other STIs can be present with no obvious symptoms, so the only way to know for sure is to test.

Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, and you will avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple!

PRO-TIP: Get a visor on your motorcycle helmet and you won't get bugs in your eyes - or teeth for that matter.

Ann