There are many species of cone nose bugs or kissing bugs .They
received their name because they usually bite people near their mouth during
the night when they are asleep. Kissing bugs are blood suckers like mosquitoes
and ticks. They usually feed just after sunset. They are attracted to the light
in our houses, the odours that we exhale, skin odours and to the warmth of our
bodies. Kissing bugs that enter a house will feed on household pets as well as
humans. The disease transmitting organism, an insect is a bug that carries the
parasite Trypanosoma cruzi which causes the disease known as Chagas disease.
The disease is curable if treatment is initiated soon after infection.
Some chronically infected people develop heart, digestive, neurological problems.
Vector control is the most useful method to prevent Chagas disease. The disease,
also known as trypanosomiasis, is a potentially life-threatening illness caused
by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. The disease is transmitted to
humans by contact with faeces of triatomine bugs, known as 'kissing bugs'.
Chagas disease is named after Carlos Justiniano Chagas, a
Brazilian doctor who discovered the disease in 1909. About 6 million to 7
million people were estimated to be infected worldwide, mostly in Latin America
some years back.
Signs and symptoms
Chagas disease presents itself in 2 phases. The initial,
acute phase lasts for about 2 months after infection. During the acute phase, a
high number of parasites circulate in the blood but in most cases symptoms are
absent or mild. In some people bitten by a kissing bug, typical first visible
signs can be a skin lesion or a purplish swelling of the lids of one eye, and
they can present fever, headache, enlarged lymph glands, and muscle pain,
difficulty in breathing, swelling and abdominal or chest pain.
During the chronic phase, the parasites are hidden mainly in
the heart and digestive muscles. Some patients suffer from cardiac disorders
and some suffer from enlargement of the oesophagus or colon.
Transmission
T. cruzi parasites are mainly transmitted by contact with
faeces/urine of infected blood-sucking kissing bugs. These bugs, vectors that
carry the parasites, typically live in the cracks of poorly-constructed homes
in rural or housing areas. Normally they hide during the day and become active
at night when they feed on human blood. They usually bite an exposed area of
skin such as the face, and the bug defecates close to the bite. The parasites
enter the body when the person automatically smears the bug faeces into the
bite, the eyes, the mouth, or into any skin break. It is also be transmitted by
consumption of food contaminated with T. cruzi through, for example, contact
with infected triatomine bug faeces, blood transfusion from infected donors, passage
from an infected mother to her newborn during pregnancy or childbirth, organ
transplants using organs from infected donors, and laboratory accidents.
There is no vaccine for Chagas disease. Vector control is
the most effective method of prevention. Originally, more than 9000 years ago,
T. cruzi only affected wild animals. It later spread to domestic animals and
people.
Prevention and control
Spraying of houses and surrounding areas with insecticides, house
improvements to prevent vector infestation, personal preventive measures such
as bed nets, good hygiene practices in food preparation, transportation,
storage and consumption, screening of blood donors, and receivers, and screening
of newborns and other children of infected mothers to provide early diagnosis
and treatment.
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