I just killed a mosquito, which got me thinking about how I need to book an appointment at a travel clinic on Monday to get my malaria vaccine in Africa.<\/p>\n
Malaria, like AIDS, is very common in Africa.<\/p>\n
But wait! If malaria is spread by mosquitoes, how about AIDS?<\/p>\n
This page<\/a> explains why mosquitoes don’t (can’t) spread HIV. The short answer is the third bold sentence, which kind of amuses me: “Mosquitoes are not flying hypodermic needles.” (I get a crazy mental image.)<\/p>\n But I’m intrigued by the first<\/em> one: mosquitoes digest the virus that causes AIDS.<\/p>\n Why not, then, isolate what causes that digestion, and deliver it in pill\/injection form to people at risk for AIDS? (Besides the apparent side-effect of the vaccine also ‘digesting’ all of a person’s ‘blood meal,’ which I suppose is not desirable.)<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I just killed a mosquito, which got me thinking about how I need to book an appointment at a travel clinic on Monday to get my malaria vaccine in Africa. Malaria, like AIDS, is very common in Africa. But wait! … Continue reading