Stupidity at it's best? Possibly, bare with me...

[Simone]

Hi, well I know that this will probably sound a bit dumb, but, I was asking around and all people could tell me is "Possibly" but is there a certain answer?

If a mosquito were to bite someone who has aids, then if that very same mosquito were to bite someone else who does not have aids a short while after, would the uninfected, be infected with that disease? Because I was thinking that maybe there wouldn't be enough infected blood to affect the person, or does that make no sense? I don't know, I was just suddenly thinking about it and then I suddenly couldn't let go of this question...

[Will]

I googled mosquito and aids and came up with the following link:
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~insects/aids.htm

Why Mosquitoes Cannot Transmit AIDS
by Wayne J. Crans, Associate Research Professor in Entomology

Rutgers Cooperative Extension Fact Sheet # FS736

Media releases concerning the possibility of mosquitoes transmitting AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) were common when the disease was first recognized, and the subject is still addressed by tabloids that seek captivating headlines to increase their circulation. The topic was initiated by reports from a small community in southern Florida where preliminary evidence suggested that mosquitoes may have been responsible for the higher on average incidence of AIDS in the local population. The media was quick to publicize claims that mosquitoes were involved in AIDS transmission despite findings of scientific surveys of the National Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that clearly demonstrated that mosquito transmission of AIDS in that community appeared highly unlikely. Nevertheless, media releases perpetuated the concept that mosquitoes transmitted AIDS, and many people still feel that mosquitoes may be responsible for transmission of this infection from one individual to another.

There are three theoretical mechanisms which would allow blood-sucking insects such as mosquitoes to transmit HIV.

1. In the first mechanism, a mosquito would initiate the cycle by feeding on an HIV positive carrier and ingest virus particles with the blood meal. For the virus to be passed on, it would have to survive inside the mosquito, preferably increase in numbers, and then migrate to the mosquito's salivary glands. The infected mosquito would then seek its second blood meal from an uninfected host and transfer the HIV from its salivary glands during the course of the bite. This is the mechanism used by most mosquito-borne parasites, including malaria, yellow fever, dengue, and the encephalitis viruses.

2. In the second mechanism, a mosquito would initiate the cycle by beginning to feed on an HIV carrier and be interrupted after it had successfully drawn blood. Instead of resuming the partial blood meal on its original host, the mosquito would select an AIDS-free person to complete the meal. As it penetrated the skin of the new host, the mosquito would transfer virus particles that were adhering to the mouthparts from the previous meal. This mechanism is not common in mosquito-borne infections, but equine infectious anemia is transmitted to horses by biting flies in this manner.

3. The third theoretical mechanism also involves a mosquito that is interrupted while feeding on an HIV carrier and resumes the partial blood meal on a different individual. In this scenario, however, the AIDS-free host squashes the mosquito as it attempts to feed and smears HIV contaminated blood into the wound. In theory, any of the mosquito-borne viruses could be transmitted in this manner providing the host circulated sufficient virus particles to initiate re-infection by contamination.

Each of these mechanisms has been investigated with a variety of blood sucking insects and the results clearly show that mosquitoes cannot transmit AIDS. News reports on the findings, however, have been confusing, and media interpretation of the results has not been clear. The average person is still not convinced that mosquitoes are not involved in the transmission of a disease that appears in the blood, is passed from person to person and can be contracted by persons that share hypodermic needles. Here are just some of the reasons why the studies showed that mosquitoes cannot transmit AIDS:
Mosquitoes Digest the Virus that Causes AIDS

When a mosquito transmits a disease agent from one person to another, the infectious agent must remain alive inside the mosquito until transfer is completed. If the mosquito digests the parasite, the transmission cycle is terminated and the parasite cannot be passed on to the next host. Successful mosquito-borne parasites have a number of interesting ways to avoid being treated as food. Some are refractory to the digestive enzymes inside the mosquito's stomach; most bore their way out of the stomach as quickly as possible to avoid the powerful digestive enzymes that would quickly eliminate their existence. Malaria parasites survive inside mosquitoes for 9-12 days and actually go through a series of necessary life stages during that period. Encephalitis virus particles survive for 10-25 days inside a mosquito and replicate enormously during the incubation period. Studies with HIV clearly show that the virus responsible for the AIDS infection is regarded as food to the mosquito and is digested along with the blood meal. As a result, mosquitoes that ingest HIV-infected blood digest that blood within 1-2 days and completely destroy any virus particles that could potentially produce a new infection. Since the virus does not survive to reproduce and invade the salivary glands, the mechanism that most mosquito-borne parasites use to get from one host to the next is not possible with HIV.
Mosquitoes Do Not Ingest Enough HIV Particles to Transmit AIDS by Contamination

Insect-borne disease agents that have the ability to be transferred from one individual to the next via contaminated mouthparts must circulate at very high levels in the bloodstream of their host. Transfer by mouthpart contamination requires sufficient infectious particles to initiate a new infection. The exact number of infectious particles varies from one disease to the next. HIV circulates at very low levels in the blood--well below the levels of any of the known mosquito-borne diseases. Infected individuals rarely circulate more that 10 units of HIV, and 70 to 80% of HIV-infected persons have undetectable levels of virus particles in their blood. Calculations with mosquitoes and HIV show that a mosquito that is interrupted while feeding on an HIV carrier circulating 1000 units of HIV has a 1:10 million probability of injecting a single unit of HIV to an AIDS-free recipient. In laymen's terms, an AIDS-free individual would have to be bitten by 10 million mosquitoes that had begun feeding on an AIDS carrier to receive a single unit of HIV from contaminated mosquito mouthparts. Using the same calculations, crushing a fully engorged mosquito containing AIDS positive blood would still not begin to approach the levels needed to initiate infection. In short, mechanical transmission of AIDS by HIV-contaminated mosquitoes appears to be well beyond the limits of probability. Therefore, none of the theoretical mechanisms cited earlier appear to be possible for mosquito transmission of HIV.
Mosquitoes Are Not Flying Hypodermic Needles

Many people think of mosquitoes as tiny, flying hypodermic syringes, and if hypodermic needles can successfully transmit HIV from one individual to another then mosquitoes ought to be able to do the same. We have already seen that HIV-infected individuals do not circulate enough virus particles to result in infection by contamination. However, even if HIV-positive individuals did circulate high levels of virus, mosquitoes could not transmit the virus by the methods that are employed in used syringes. Most people have heard that mosquitoes regurgitate saliva before they feed, but are unaware that the food canal and salivary canal are separate passageways in the mosquito. The mosquito's feeding apparatus is an extremely complicated structure that is totally unlike the crude single-bore syringe. Unlike a syringe, the mosquito delivers salivary fluid through one passage and draws blood up another. As a result, the food canal is not flushed out like a used needle, and blood flow is always unidirectional. The mechanics involved in mosquito feeding are totally unlike the mechanisms employed by the drug user's needles. In short, mosquitoes are not flying hypodermic needles and a mosquito that disgorges saliva into your body is not flushing out the remnants of its last blood meal.

For more in depth information on this topic see Staff Paper #I, Do Insects Transmit AIDS?, OTA series on AIDS-Related Issues, Health Program, Office of Technology Assessment, United States Congress, Washington, D.C. 20510-8025.

I found this article to be quite satisfactory. I hope it answers your question.

[Whitney]

I'm not sure if I followed the article correctly so I have a question for clarification.  Did it conclude that it is impossible for a mosquito to transmit AIDS or that it is simply so improbable that it isn't worth worrying about?

[McQ]

I would guess that it is on the order of supremely improbable, from this short answer from the CDC:

http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/qa/qa32.htm

No reported cases, ever, of it happening.

Yet.

[SteveS]

Man, I remember the first time that particular "what if" crossed my mind.  I wasn't happy thinking about it (until I found out that this doesn't seem to happen).  That would be scary if they could transmit though, wouldn't it?

The best thing to do about mosquitos is drink lots of beer whenever you're outside --- if I get bit, I take pleasure from the thought that somewhere out there is a drunk-arse mosquito trying to find its way home.  Nasty little buggers.

[Whitney]

I think mosquitoes should qualify as proof against the existence of a god who loves humans.

When I was little I use to ask my mom why God made mosquitoes....because birds eat them never seemed like an adequate answer.

[Simone]

Thanks all, I don't know why, but I was so bothered for some reason about all of this.