The dictionary states the definition as âin a literal way or senseâ but adds that, informally, it can be âused for emphasis rather than being actually trueâ such as âwe were literally killing ourselves laughingâ. The definition was added in the September 2011 edition, but went unnoticed until this week.
Strictly speaking, it is not AIDS but HIV that spreads through blood, semen and from a mother to child. Mosquitoes cannot transmit HIV for two reasons. Firstly, when the mosquito bites with its probosis, it draws blood and injects saliva, which contains antiviral factors and immunoglobulins and hence cannot transmit HIV. The blood from one person is not injected into the mosquito's next victim.
AIDS can be transmitted in several ways. The risk factors for HIV transmission vary according to the method of transmission. HIV is not transmitted by handshakes or other casual non-sexual contact, coughing or sneezing, or by bloodsucking insects such as mosquitoes.cquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is an infectious disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). There are two variants of the HIV virus, HIV-1 and HIV-2, both of which ultimately cause AIDS.