Bed Bugs Wont Give You Chagas Disease (probably)

Nobody likes bed bugs, but one thing we could always say was at least they donttransmit any human diseases! Thats still true, althoughsome research published this week is causing some concern.

A new paper in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene reportedthat bed bugs mightbe able to host and transmit Chagas Disease, a chronicheart disease caused by the blood parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. That sounds scary, but the experts I talked to all agree no one should panic.

A lot of alarmingthingscan be found inbed bugs; over 45different potential human disease agentsare known, including bacteria, viruses (Hepatitis B), worms, and protozoans (like the trypanosomes in the new paper). So far, none of themare transmitted to humans bybed bugs. This new research doesnt change that.

Heres a run-down of the new research, and what you need to know.

In areas where Chagas Disease occurs, you get infectedwhen akissing bugwith the parasite in its gut first bites you, and then poops into the wound it makes. Seriously.

Kissing bugs are a relative of bed bugs, and they both feed the same way they stick a beaky straw into your skin and slurp up your blood.Kissing bugs poop after they feed, and if the bug is infected, it releases the parasite onto yourskin.

Breaks in the skin (like the one the bug just made to drink your blood) or mucus membranes allow the Chagas parasite easy access to your blood.Kissing bugs get their name from their habit of biting near the lips and eyes. Which are mucus membranes.

Scratching makes it more likely that you get the disease, because you create an opening in the skin and then rub the feces into the wound. Insult, meet injury.

To recap: the bug bites you on the face; then poops on your face; and then you scratch the wound (on your face? Did I mention its on your face?) and infect yourself.

How do these kissing bugs get infected in the first place? They feed on small mammals and pick up the Chagas parasite. There is anothersource of Chagas disease infection in kissing bugs:coprophagy. Literally: shit-eating.

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Bed Bugs Wont Give You Chagas Disease (probably)