Mosquitoes, AIDS, and You

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Mosquitoes, AIDS, and You

• Samara Krauss
• Joel LaRosa
• Ryan Reeves
• Chris Nielubowicz

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Summary

• Methods of Transmission
• Diseases
• Why AIDS is different
• Applications

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Transmission of Disease by Mosquitoes

• Mechanical transmission
• Called transmitting the disease
• Through blood on mouthparts
• No viral reproduction in mosquito
• Biological transmission
• Called spreading the disease
• Through saliva
• Viral reproduction takes place in mosquito

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Yellow Fever

• Transmission
• Aedes aegypti
• Symptoms
• Flu-like, fever, chills coma, death
• Treatment
• Rest, fluids

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Malaria

• Symptoms
• Chills, fever, vomiting, flu-like coma, death,
  kidney failure
• Treatment
• None use antimalarial drugs if suspected

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West Nile

• Symptoms
• Flu-like paralysis, encephalitis
• Treatment
• None

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AIDS

• Belle Glade
• High incidence of AIDS claims of many mosquito
  bites
• Goat study
• Scientists filled goat gut with infected blood
• Mosquitoes fed on gut
• Scientists replaced the gut with a disease-free
  one
• Checked new gut for HIV

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Reasons against transmission of AIDS

• Goat Study
• Belle Glade outbreak resolved
• Unable to infect mosquito
• No biological transmission of virus
• Mosquito Proboscis size
• Too small to carry infectious dose

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Protecting yourself from Mosquitoes

• Insect repellant
• Long sleeves and pants
• Screens on windows and doors
• Do not keep standing water around

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Engineering Relevance

• Understanding the physics behind a mosquito's
  proboscis
• Concentration gradient of virus parts per ml of
  blood, what constitutes an infectious dose?
• Physical properties of mechanical transmission,
  and mosquito mouthpiece design

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Conclusion

• Two methods of transmission
• Mechanical vs. Biological
• Some viruses that mosquitoes can transmit
• Malaria, West Nile, Yellow Fever
• Mosquitoes do not transmit HIV
• How to protect yourself from mosquitoes

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Questions?