Can mosquitoes transmit Ebola?

Although some mosquitoes can transmit some viruses, not all viruses that circulate in the blood can be transmitted by mosquito bites. Those who can do so are a particular type of viruses called arboviruses. Among them are the yellow fever or dengue. But others, such as AIDS or hepatitis C, which also circulate in the blood but are not arboviruses, can not be spread by mosquito bites. What guarantees do we have that the Ebola virus can not act as an arbovirus? “For a virus to be transmitted by mosquitoes, you need to be adapted to the body of the mosquito and be able to multiply in their salivary glands. There is nothing to suggest that the Ebola virus can do that,” explains Albert Bosch, a microbiologist at the University of Barcelona and president of the Spanish Society of Virology. Furthermore, in the current epidemic of Ebola, contagion occurs by direct contact with sick people. In cases where patients with Ebola are isolated, no longer can they infect others. As insulation measures applied in Africa do not include the use of mosquito nets, this confirms that the Ebola virus is an arbovirus. There are good reasons to avoid mosquitoes, but the fear of contracting Ebola is not one of them; at least for now. The certainty that the Ebola virus cannot acquire the capacity to reproduce and live in mosquito salivary glands could change should new testing demonstrate otherwise, the thing is, no one is carefully studying whether Ebola may be capable of adapting to a mosquito salivary gland to reproduce and survive there. As of now, scientists [emphasis added] have assured people that Ebola can only be transmitted through direct contact, that is, when an infected person’s blood or fluids such as saliva, mucus, vomit, feces, sweat, tears, breast milk, urine and semen, touch another person’s eyes, nose or enter the mouth or an open wound or abrasion. A way in which Ebola does not get transmitted is when sweat from one person touches another person’s skin, unless as we pointed out before, the non-infected has an open wound or abrasion. Sweat, saliva, breast milk or any other fluid cannot transmit Ebola just by touching a healthy skin. As reported earlier, it is possible for an infected patient to spread Ebola when coughing or sneezing, which is why health providers wear protective equipment. Body fluids such as saliva or mucus from an infected person would be better transmitters as long as they get into a healthy person’s eyes, nose, mouth or a wound. According to US Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary, Dr. Nicole Lurie,  Ebola may be capable of surviving on what she called on inert surfaces, which confirmed that body fluids such as sweat may be potential transmission vectors. In a recent study whose details were published on the Mail Online, the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory found that the Ebola strain circulating in Zaire, can survive for up to 50 days, but only under some conditions. According to the report on the Mail Online, the 2010 study found that  “filoviruses” can survive in liquids, on solid substrates and in a dynamic aerosol. However, the results of the study are true for only two types de filoviruses in the situations described above. They are the Lake Victoria marburgvirus (Marv), and Zaire ebolavirus (Zebov). Scientists now have a parameter to measure these two strains’ ability to remain alive under those very specific conditions and whether they can evolve to become more resistant to external conditions.