𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐀 𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐓𝐎 𝐆𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔

𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐀 𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐓𝐎 𝐆𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐇𝐈𝐕?🦟

A mosquito bites someone with HIV, then bites you…

So what next?

Many people believe mosquitoes can spread HIV from one person to another.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐞.

Mosquitoes transmit several diseases, but HIV isn't one of them.

HIV spreads when certain body fluids from a person with HIV enter another person's body. These include blood, semen, pre-cum, vaginal fluids, rectal fluids and breast milk.

It's mainly transmitted through sex, sharing needles or other injection equipment, and in some cases from parent to child during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding.

𝐇𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬.

Knowing how HIV is actually transmitted helps us protect ourselves based on facts, rather than fear.

But wait...

If a mosquito drinks blood from someone with HIV, isn't that blood still inside it?

And when it bites you, doesn't it inject it into you?

Here's what actually happens.

A mosquito doesn't inject the blood of the last person it bit into its next victim.

Its mouthparts have separate channels for sucking blood and releasing saliva.

When she bites, she draws your blood through one channel and injects saliva through another.

The saliva helps keep your blood flowing so she can feed.

So no, she's not injecting someone else's blood into you. She's injecting her saliva.

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐈𝐕 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐚.

There's another problem for HIV: a mosquito simply isn't the right environment for it to multiply.

HIV is a little picky. It needs specific human immune cells to make more copies of itself. Mosquitoes don't have those cells.

So the virus can't infect mosquitoes.

Instead, once HIV gets into a mosquito, it is broken down and digested in its stomach.

Scientists have found no evidence that mosquitoes transmit HIV to humans, even in places where both mosquitoes and HIV are common.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡?

HIV needs the right human cells to multiply. A mosquito simply doesn't have what it needs.

𝐒𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐇𝐈𝐕.

And that's one less health myth to worry about.

What's a health myth you believed for years before finding out it wasn't true?

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