It can be recalled in the report by The Telegraph, that the triatomine bug, a dangerous insect known as the "kissing bug" has crawled its way through more than half of the U.S., health officials warn the public, Saturday. Why do health officials consider them "dangerous" and have begun raising awareness about the health implications of these creepy crawlies?
These blood-sucking insects have been reported in 28 states, mostly in the South, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An alarming information states that these creepy crawlies recently made its way to Georgia, Alabama and California, although health officials said these bugs has been around the U.S. since the 1850s.
Why are kissing bugs dangerous?
According to a research, most of the 130 or more species of the triatomine or kissing bug's subfamily are haematophagous, meaning it feeds on vertebrate blood and a very few of its species feed on other invertebrates. It looks like a slender version of a cockroach has been known as vectors or carriers of the Chagas disease parasite Trypanosoma cruzi.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 300,000 cases of Chagas in the U.S., have been reported, although most of those people were infected in Latin America. CDC spokesperson Amy Rowland said to TIME that the transmission only occurs when the bug's feces gets rubbed into a break in the skin or comes in contact with the eye.
The Chagas disease's symptoms may change over the course of the infection. Mild symptoms such as fever, swollen lymph nodes, headaches, or local swelling at the site of the bite may be present in the early stage of infection. After 8-12 weeks since the infection, individuals enter the chronic phase of disease and in 60-70%, it never produces further symptoms while the remaining 30 to 40% of people infected develop further symptoms, 10 to 30 years after the initial infection including enlargement of the ventricles of the heart in 20 to 30%, leading to heart failure. An enlarged esophagus or an enlarged colon may also occur in 10% of people according to CDC in a report released in 2010.
In a study conducted in 2010 following the rise of Chagas disease cases, Chagas disease affects 8 to 10 million people living in endemic Latin American countries, with an additional 300,000-400,000 living in nonendemic countries, including Spain and the United States.
An estimated 41,200 new cases occur annually in endemic countries, and 14,400 infants are born with congenital Chagas disease annually. It resulted an approximate of 10,300 deaths in 2010.
