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The HIV virus remains in the blood at a minimum concentration – unlike diseases such as dengue, which have the so-called viremic phase (clinical condition with a high concentration of virus in the blood). Therefore, the amount that the mosquito sucks from one person would be too small to contaminate another. Also, when biting, insects suck blood for themselves and not the other way around. Thus, they never inject a new victim with the blood of someone previously stung. Another important factor is that the HIV virus cannot reproduce inside insects, as certain protozoans do. “In the case of dengue or yellow fever, the virus also contaminates the mosquito’s cells, causing its organism to carry the disease. When sucking blood, he injects saliva, which is also contaminated. This does not happen with HIV”, says biologist Delsio Natal, from USP.
One last possibility of contamination would remain, due to the presence of blood on the proboscis (the insect’s mouthparts). “But such a hypothesis is not considered because that amount of blood would be microscopic and the virus would die quickly in contact with air”, says Delsio.