Kissing Bug

Triatoma infestans is the most medically important species in subfamily Triatominae — the kissing bugs, blood-feeding members of the assassin bug family. About 150 species of kissing bug exist across the Americas; T. infestans is the dominant Chagas vector in southern South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay). The species feeds on vertebrate blood at night, drawn by exhaled CO₂ and body heat. The common name 'kissing bug' references the species' tendency to feed on the soft skin around the lips and eyes of sleeping humans. After feeding, the bug typically defecates on or near the bite — and if the host scratches, Trypanosoma cruzi parasites in the feces enter the wound or are introduced to mucous membranes. Chagas disease has two phases: an acute phase with mild symptoms, then a chronic phase that develops 10-30 years later in 30% of infected individuals, causing irreversible heart damage (cardiomyopathy), megaesophagus, and megacolon. WHO estimates 6-7 million people are currently infected and 12,000 die annually. Public-health vector-control campaigns have dramatically reduced T. infestans populations in many countries since the 1990s, but the disease remains a major neglected tropical disease. The bugs typically inhabit cracks in adobe and thatch dwellings — modern construction is a powerful prevention measure.