Can mosquitoes transmit rabies?

Mosquitoes do not transmit rabies. The rabies virus is primarily transmitted through saliva—typically via bites from infected animals such as dogs and cats—or when an infected animal’s tongue directly licks a fresh wound. When a mosquito bites a person, the person is exposed only to the mosquito’s saliva; mosquitoes cannot carry the rabies virus. Even if the rabies virus were somehow introduced into a mosquito’s body, it would not replicate in or be secreted by the mosquito’s salivary glands into its saliva, and therefore could not be transmitted to humans through a mosquito bite. Thus, mosquito bites are not a route of rabies transmission. Diseases transmitted by mosquitoes include malaria, epidemic encephalitis (e.g., Japanese encephalitis), and dengue fever. In contrast, the primary animal reservoirs for rabies transmission are carnivores such as dogs and cats—not rodents.