Blood-sucking ‘kissing bugs’ have now carried a deadly parasite across 32 US states, the CDC warns, with hundreds of thousands of people likely already infected with the parasitic disease Chagas without realizing it.
Only 29 confirmed infections were reported in the US between 2000 and 2018. The CDC is urging authorities to reclassify the disease as endemic in the US, in the hope of increasing awareness and enabling more people to receive timely treatment.
“Most people living with Chagas disease are unaware of their diagnosis, often until it’s too late to have effective treatment,” warns infectious disease epidemiologist Judith Currier from the University of California, Los Angeles.
https://www.sciencealert.com/deadly-kissing-bug-disease-is-on-the-rise-across-the-us-cdc-warns