Hi everyone, I have a question and would appreciate your help: Can mosquitoes transmit hepatitis B if a mosquito has just bitten an infected person and blood remains in its proboscis, and then bites a healthy person?
Hi @H_ng_Ph_m,
Thanks for your question. There is no scientific evidence showing that HBV is or has been transmitted through mosquito bites. This is actually a good thing; we can imagine the number of people who might have been infected with this virus globally could be extremely high. Everybody has been bitten by a mosquito or two before, and if that led to HBV transmission, the entire world could get infected. Great enough that it has not been the case. We don’t have any evidence that this can or does happen.
I hope this is helpful. Bansah1
Hi @H_ng_Ph_m
@Bansah1 is correct. HBV is not transmitted by mosquitos. The amounts of blood that are transferred on the outside of the proboscis are just too small to carry significant amounts of HBV, and the blood they have ingested is exposed to the mosquitos’ digestive enzymes that destroy HBV. Viruses that transmit by mosquito bites, such as dengue virus, yellow fever virus, chickungunya virus, etc, all replicate to high levels in the mosquito and are actively injected into people when the mosquito bites within the saliva the mosquitos inject into the wound in the skin to stop blood clotting.
I hope this helps.
John.
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Thank you @john.tavis for the detailed explanation!
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