In South America, visitors can encounter a tropical bug, Traitoma megista, suggestively named the "kissing bug" (center)
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Its kiss can last 15 minutes while it's sucking your blood. The kiss itself won't harm (except, of course, for the blood you unwittingly "donate").
But the dejections dropped on your skin may contain a germ called Trypanosoma cruzi (below). If the parasite enters your body through your eyes, mouth or an opened wound, it triggers the disease called Chagas. In its acute phase, Chagas determines the swelling of the eyes through which it entered, but also exhaustion, fever, lack of appetite or diarrhea.
After one-two months, the symptoms disappear, but what follows is much more severe. 10-20 years after the initial infection, the victim starts having heart problems, even heart failure, plus problems with the esophagus, colon and peripheral nervous system. 18 million persons are infected in South America with this virus, and 50,000 die annually.
Some patients didn't get infected with the parasite through insect bite: fetuses take it from the mother's organism or during birth. Blood transfusions and food that was not properly cooked may transmit the protozoan. Insecticides are efficient in destroying the insects, but often spraying in and around the house can affect human health, too. And spraying must be repeated every six months. Another method is to apply a paint including insecticide.
The leaves of the Neem tree (Azadirachta indica) contain a non toxic biodegradable compound (azadirachtin) that not only heals the infected bugs, but prevents the infection of the healthy ones.
Scientists work on decoding the 10,000 genes of the parasite in order to find easy diagnostic tests, vaccine, and efficient drugs. It is important to find a treatment, because in the final stages, there is no efficient medicine against the parasite.
Scientists have developed a two-day test for detecting the germ in early stages, a crucial issue, but unfortunately, many ignore the initial symptoms.
If you travel in regions with Chagas:
_ Use a bed net if you have to sleep in a clay or reed house.
_ Use insecticides
_Fix cracks on the walls, as these are the breeding places of the bugs
_ Keep the house neat; clean behind paintings and furniture
_From time to time put out in the sun all the sheets and mattresses
_Do not forget: domestic and wild animals can carry the virus
_ If you suspect that an insect is a kissing bug, send it for analyses to the closest lab.
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