These single-celled protozoa get shuttled among people and animals by several species of insects called
kissing bugs or assassin bugs.
If left untreated for several decades, it can lead to heart and digestive diseases and it's believed Charles Darwin may have been bitten by
kissing bugs during his explorations and that he suffered from Chagas disease.
Dog kennels were inspected daily by kennel personnel and
kissing bugs (Figure 3B) were collected using forceps and placed into 50 ml collection tubes with holes drilled in the tube cap for aeration.
Chagas disease is primarily transmitted by large, blood-sucking reduviid insects widely known as "the
kissing bug", Chagas disease is endemic in 21 countries across Latin America, with an average of 14,000 deaths per year, Chagas disease kills more people in the region each year than any other parasite-born disease, including malaria.
In South America, the
kissing bug is responsible for transmitting Chagas' disease, a parasitic infection that causes heart-muscle damage and sometimes death.
Allison adds that the
kissing bug is on the move in Latin America, infesting areas of Peru that hadn't previously been afflicted.
Kissing bugs in the United States: risk for vector-borne disease in humans.
Transmission occurs when triatomine bugs, commonly called "
kissing bugs," pierce the skin to feed and leave behind parasite-infected feces that can enter the bloodstream; pregnant women can also transmit Chagas to their newborns.
Chagas Disease is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi transmitted primarily by insects known as "
kissing bugs." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there are more than 300,000 individuals with Trypanosoma cruzi infection that live inthe United States, with 30,000-45,000 cardiomyopathy cases and fewer than 500 congenital infections annually.
Chapters 9 through 18 describe the importance, distribution and impact on human health for the following blood-sucking arthropods: mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, lice, sand flies, tsetse flies, black flies, bed bugs,
kissing bugs and mites.