Kissing bugs belong to a family of true bugs that is made up of mostly insect-feeding bugs. However, kissing bugs belong to the subfamily Triatominae and are blood feeders. They can feed on a wide range of birds, reptiles, and mammals, including humans. Active mostly at night, their bite is usually painless, but they can vector a parasite known as Trypanosoma cruzi. This parasite causes a disease in humans known as Chagas disease. Rather than transmitting the disease directly through their bite, the parasite is found in the digestive system and is passed through their feces. Feces is deposited around the bite area, giving the parasite access to cause infection into the bite. Recently, Chagas disease has been in the news due to the CDC consideration of the disease as endemic in the U.S.
In the fist few weeks to months after infection, people with Chagas disease may experience fever, tiredness, body aches, headache, rash, diarrhea, loss of appetite, or vomiting. Thereafter, about 1 in 3 affected people may develop an enlarged heart, heart failure, altered heart rate or rhythm, or sudden death, and other digestive symptoms such as enlarged esophagus or colon. Chagas disease is treatable, but there is no vaccine at this time.
Kissing bugs can be found throughout the Americas and their distribution includes 29 U.S. states. Eleven species are found within the U.S. with Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona having the highest populations and variety of species. Researchers at Texas A&M University stated that out of >7,000 kissing bugs analyzed since 2012, 55% of them were infected with the parasite that causes Chagas Disease. In addition, there were 537 cases of canine Chagas disease reported between 1993-2017. It has even been proposed that Charles Darwin may have died from Chagas Disease after he wrote about being bitten by kissing bugs in his journal. However, this has never been confirmed and there is evidence that his symptoms began before his voyages to South America.
Cultural pest management strategies include excluding kissing bugs from the home by sealing any gaps around doors and windows and turning off lights at night that might attract insects. Eliminating harborage for wildlife such as rodents around your home is also recommended.
Exterior treatments with appropriately labeled insecticides are extremely effective for the exclusion of insect pests. Interior applications of approved insecticides is also recommended for fast-acting and long-lasting solution for several hard to control pests.
References:
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/31/9/24-1700_article
https://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F1925&viewtype=text&pageseq=1