They Call This The ‘Assassin Bug’ And If You See One In Your House, Get Help Immediately
By Michele
For the most part insects are completely harmless. Maybe they are a little gross, but there is one that you should pay special attention to. The states in red have confirmed populations of the assassin bug, or kissing bug as it's sometimes known.
They are called the assassin bug because they carry a deadly disease which both you and your pet can die from. This bug can cause the spread of a highly hazardous diseases called American Trypanosomiasis.
Chagas disease has claimed the lives of over 400 dogs in Texas so far.
The bug feeds on blood. For dogs, that is the area around their eyes, and mouths. It is called the silent killer because people may not know they have it until it's too late.
The disease is contracted when the bug bites and injects its feces into the wound.
Symptoms include massive swollen eyelids, flu like symptoms and and can end up being very painful. and anaphylactic shock. Which can cause asphyxiation, and even death.
Kissing bugs have a few favorite indoor and outdoor hiding spaces. The bugs prefer to live indoors, where they find comfort in cracks and holes in the walls and foundation of one's home. In terms of outdoors, the bugs often seek shelter beneath porches, between rocky structures, under cement, in a rodent's nest of animal burrow, and in rock, wood, brush piles, or beneath bark.
Various triatomine bugs in all life stages, from eggs to nymphs to fully grown adults. A variety of bug species, that share similar traits, are pictured below.
Do not touch or squash the bugs. Instead, the CDC recommends placing the bloodsuckers in a container and filling it with rubbing alcohol. If that is not an option, the contained bug can be taken to your local extension service, health department, or a university laboratory for species identification and examination. To err on the safe side, any material or surface that the bugs may have come in contact with also needs to be cleaned, preferably with a bleach and water solution.
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