Kiss and tell: new test for kissing bug disease

Here’s one Latin lover that you do not want to get kissed by: the triatomine, or “kissing bug”. Known locally as pitos or chipos, these insects get their name for their penchant for biting people’s faces as they sleep at night. One seemingly harmless little “peck” can result in a potentially life-threatening illness known as Chagas disease, caused by the transmission of a protozoan parasite known as Trypansosoma cruzi, as illustrated in the video below.

There are more than 6 million people worldwide with Chagas disease, most of whom reside in Latin American countries. In these rural endemic regions, the lack of access to fully-equipped diagnostic laboratories makes positively identifying and treating Chagas disease particularly challenging.

In the acute phase of the disease, localized swelling at the site of the bite occurs, which can be accompanied by fevers, difficulty breathing and chest pain. If treated with the antiparasitic medication benznidazole during this early phase, the treatment is extremely effective in killing the parasites. However, if left undiagnosed and untreated, T. cruzi can go on to reside in the heart and digestive muscles, where it can wreak havoc, causing heart failure, neurological conditions and enlargement of the colon. At this advanced stage, Chagas disease medications are deemed useless and more costly…