Here’s Why Mosquitoes Can’t Transmit HIV
Christina Sterbenz
Aug. 22, 2013, 11:45 AM
http://www.businessinsider.com/mosquitoes-cant-spread-hiv-2013-8
I remain unconvinced.
Smacks of politically correct scientific analysis.
The mosquito sticks the very same probe into one person as it does another. The mosquito does not have a fresh probe for each victim.
I don’t care if the acids in its gut destroy HIV. I’m concerned about the tiny droplets of blood on the probe it sticks into you. The probe it sticks in can a moment later be the same probe it sticks into someone else.
Is that probe sterilized somehow between bites? Even if the bites happen within minutes of each other? If it was somehow sterilized then what if the mosquito has a faulty sterilization system... defects do happen. What if it has an upset tummy and it’s not acid enough to kill HIV in there?
If I stick a syringe into HIV blood and draw some up and then put that blood into an acid that kills it does that somehow kill the tiny droplets that adhere to the needle of the syringe?
As an assembly language programmer I’m always looking for every last possible failure mode that will kill a system.
An unlikely but nonetheless possible failure is a very bitter pill to swallow for an embedded systems guy. It can cause a car’s brakes to fail, a plane to go off course, a microwave to blow out its cavity magnetron..etc
When lives are at stake you make sure every possible failure is averted. Making excuses for monetary reasons (100% perfect is too expensive) or for politically correct reasons (everyone would go nuts killing mosquitoes and avoiding HIV infected people when it’s only a small risk) is unacceptable to me.
It’s ingrained in me that I will not purposefully fail to report a possible risk... no matter how small.