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Kissing Bug Spreads North: Doctor Warns of Insect's Link to Heart Failure
Chagas disease, transmitted by kissing bugs, affects approximately 300,000 people in the U.S. and can cause chronic heart and digestive issues without early treatment.
- The CDC reports that Chagas disease, a parasitic infection spread by kissing bugs, is now endemic in the U.S. and identified in 19 states including Pennsylvania.
- Originally confined to Latin America, kissing bugs have expanded northward into parts of the southern U.S. and Mid-Atlantic, infecting animals and humans.
- Chagas disease has an acute phase lasting weeks or months with symptoms like painless swelling of one eyelid, then progresses into a chronic phase that can cause heart failure if untreated.
- Dr. Tim Connelly from Memorial Health emphasized that the most serious complication of Chagas disease is heart failure and recommended staying away from the insects and their feces to reduce the risk of infection.
- An estimated 300,000 individuals in the United States are affected by chronic Chagas disease, and although early detection enables treatment with anti-parasitic medication, failure to diagnose the infection timely can lead to serious health issues later on.
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Kissing bug spreads north: Doctor warns of insect's link to heart failure
The kissing bug, once primarily found in South and Central America, is now making its way north, bringing with it Chagas disease—a parasitic infection that can be difficult to detect, according to the CDC.
·Albuquerque, United States
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‘Kissing bug’ disease is now endemic in the US. Will it make it to the Lehigh Valley?
In a year where avian influenza, measles and legionnaire’s disease have taken the spotlight, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is saying that a parasitic infection caused by a “kissing bug” and believed to have been mostly isolated to Latin America, is now endemic to the U.S. A recent paper published by the CDC journal Emerging Infectious Diseases states that Chagas disease has been identified in 19 states, and the insect that sprea…
·Allentown, United States
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Total News Sources15
Leaning Left1Leaning Right0Center14Last UpdatedBias Distribution93% Center
Bias Distribution
- 93% of the sources are Center
93% Center
C 93%
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