Could Bed Bugs Spread Chagas Disease In The U.S.?

Though Chagas disease was once just native to Latin America and South America, it has made it's way to the United States within the past few years. Now, new findings published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene show that bed bugs could now be potential carriers as well.

"We've shown that the bedbug can acquire and transmit the parasite. Our next step is to determine whether they are, or will become an important player in the epidemiology of Chagas disease," said study senior author Michael Levy, assistant professor in the department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, in a university news release.

Statistics have shown that Chagas disease affects an estimated 6 million to 8 million people worldwide and kills another 50,000 a year, making it one of the most common and dangerous illnesses in Latin America.

The disease is spread through a microscopic parasite known as Trypansoma crusi. However, once bitten, symptoms may take years to develop. It's only once a victim starts developing severe symptoms such as heart failure, when some know they are infected.

Oftentimes, researchers have found that after the bug bites you, it can poop into the bite wound. Kissing bugs poop after they feed, and if the bug is infected, it releases the parasite onto the skin, where mucus membranes allow the Chagas parasite easy access to blood.

"We are finding new evidence that locally acquired human transmission is occurring in Texas," said Melissa Nolan Garcia, a research associated at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, via HealthDay.

A series of recent experiments have shown that the Chagas parasite can actually be passed back and forth between mice and bedbugs. Furthermore, it appears that it has been found in some homes in the guts of bedbugs.

"I've never seen so many parasites in an insect. I expected a scenario with very low infection, but we found many parasites-they really replicate well in the gut of the bedbugs," added study co-author Renzo Salazar, a biologist at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru, in a news release.

Fortunately, researchers note that as many of the kissing bugs here do not frequently come into homes, Chagas disease does not necessarily pose a high danger to those in the United States. However, bedbugs could be a concern in the future as they already unsuspectingly living in many people's homes.