Mosquitoes, etc. as infection vectors?

[Karl Fischer]

In article <3p38dl$2dl at portal.gmu.edu>, tvalesky at site.gmu.edu (Tom Valesky
(CS 555)) wrote:

> Question from a layman:
> 
> Malaria spreads through mosquitos. Sleeping sickness spreads through
> tsetse fly bites. Why haven't mosquitoes, biting flies, etc., become
> infection vectors for viral diseases like Ebola and AIDS?
> 
> 
> --
> ===========================================================================
> Tom Valesky   -- tvalesky at osf1.gmu.edu -- tvalesky at site.gmu.edu
> Programmer/Analyst C/C++/SQL/Visual Basic 
> (I don't work for GMU; I'm a part-time grad student)

Mosquitoes *are* vectors for like Western equine encephalomyelitis and
yellow fever to name but two. These viruses are able to survive the
environment of the insect's digestive tract such that they can be
transmitted at the next blood meal. Currently it is thought that HIV is
just too "fragile" to survive such an environment - transmissibility
through such insect vectors is unikely in the extreme.

Cheers

Karl

-- 
Karl Fischer
kfischer at gpu.srv.ualberta.ca
tyr-2 at bones.biochem.ualberta.ca