Will COVID-19 Spread Through Mosquitoes?

As the temperature continued to rise, mosquitoes began to appear in many places. Because mosquitoes suck blood and are the vectors of many diseases, many people start to worry that if mosquitoes inhale the blood of COVID-19 patients or hidden infectious patients, and then bite healthy people, will they be able to spread the disease? Is it possible for mosquito bites to become a new way of spreading COVID-19?

Currently, it is known that the routes of transmission of COVID-19 are mainly direct transmission, aerosol transmission and contact transmission. In general, according to the WHO and the CDCs, there is no evidence that SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus, are able to be transmitted by mosquito bites.

In general, the viruses that can be transmitted by mosquitoes are "human mosquito symbiosis", such as dengue fever, yellow fever, and Zika fever. It is because these viruses can survive and reproduce in the mosquitoes, so they will spread to others through bites, while SARS-CoV-2 is a genus of beta coronavirus that can only infect vertebrates, and mosquitoes are invertebrates.

If the mosquito bites, the "mouth" is contaminated with the patient's blood, will it be brought into the next bite? This possibility is also extremely low. First of all, the amount of blood that can be contaminated by mosquito mouthparts is narrow, and the concentration of virus in the blood is also very low, so the chance of getting the virus is very small. Second, mosquitoes generally do not attack the next prey quickly after the first bite, but instead find a place to hide and digest for a while. This process usually takes at least two days, after two days, and the virus has lost its activity. Therefore, the possibility of mosquito bites spreading SARS-CoV-2 is minimal.

Since mosquito bites cannot transmit the virus, how can we protect ourselves from other sources? It requires not only strong medical treatment, but also the patient's own good immunity. However, it may be difficult to quickly improve immunity in the short term. The following three methods can help the body adjust immunity.

First, strengthen the protection, which means staying at home is the best protection at current time. If you need to go to a crowded and poorly ventilated place, such as taking public transportation or going to a hospital, you must wear a mask correctly. Wash your hands frequently, and don't touch your face with dirty hands are also proved to be effective. Second, be sure to get a good night’s sleep. Staying up late has an immediate effect on the destruction of the human immune system. Staying up late will affect the body's circadian clock, thus affect the immune system's response ability and defense ability, so in such a special period, it is important to ensure 7-8 hours of good sleep every day. Finally, keep a positive attitude. Tension, restlessness, anxiety, these psychological changes will affect the immunity through the autonomic nervous system and endocrine system, and the immune system's ability to resist pathogens will be reduced, then the body is more vulnerable to infection. At the same time, severe psychological changes can also cause many physical and mental diseases, such as insomnia, headache, blood pressure fluctuations, stomach upset, intestinal dysfunction, etc. These diseases will further weaken the body's resistance.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, scientists around the world have mobilized various forces to devote themselves to the development of antiviral drugs or SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. With the development of R&D process, it seems that the victory of fighting against the virus is in the near future.