Replies

My question would be. If a person has HIV and you get a drop of blood from them then how long does HIV remain alive in that drop? Lets say it is dark and 98 deg, and you just put the drop on a table top??? Does this drop have an environment that will allow the HIV to survive for a few moments? Or, does blood instantly become a poisonous medium and magically destroy the HIV as soon as it is removed from the body? If this is so then how come a blood donation can pass the HIV virus? It is just a lot of small drops of blood that have been removed from the body. Why are HIV pos individuals barred from donating blood if this blood can’t have live HIV in it?

If the drop of blood is very tiny (like the amount on and in the mosquito) how does this make a difference?

If it is 98 degrees out, at night(no UV) and the mosquito bites the HIV infected person and then one minute later bites you..what exactly has killed the HIV in that small amount of blood?

If HIV is so incredibly sensitive to UV and O2 how could it be in human blood since that highly oxygenated blood is exposed to both UV and O2 constantly. UV penetrates the skin somewhat and all blood circulates just below the epidermis constantly. If it were sensitive to a lack of O2 then how quickly would it succumb? 60 seconds? And again, a blood donation would have less O2 than circulating blood does...same for a drop on a table top.

I seriously doubt that you could find a virologist anywhere that would allow an HIV pos person to be bitten by a mosquito and then a moment later let the same mosquito bite them. No one in their right mind would do this.

We are talking a minute or two here, I doubt that the HIV destructs in just seconds.

I’m not talking about HIV surviving in or on a mosquito for an hour...just a minute. This seems important when you are in close proximity with HIV pos people and mosquitoes (A barbeque in the Castro district, perhaps :-)