The answer is yes. Bed Bugs are Capable of Transmitting Parasite Causing Chagas Disease…
According to research conducted by Penn Medicine (PM). Researchers were able to discover that just like Triatomines, bed bugs can transmit the parasite responsible for Chagas Disease. This parasite is Trypanosoma Cruzi, which is a deadly disease in the United States.
The bloodsucking triatomines bugs, which is responsible for causing Chagas disease takes the lives of approximately 50,000 people a year. Chagas disease affects about six to eight million people worldwide. These insects do not infect people through biting. They do so through their feces by depositing it on the face of their host or around it after feeding. Bed bugs are disease-free because they only bite their victims, the bite typically itches.
Can Bed Bugs spread disease
There were some studies that were able to help provide crucial information. The studies by Michael Levy, a senior author and assistant professor at the UP (University of Pennsylvania) and investigators from Peru.
The investigators went on to expose twenty uninfected bed bugs to ten mice carrying the parasite infection. This was something that was done every 3 days for 30 days in a research center in Peru. This was where the first experiment took place. The researchers experimented on approximately 2,000 bugs and after most of them fed on the infected mice contracted T.cruzi. In order to examine the transmission process from bugs to mice, another experiment was done. In this experiment they discovered that about 9 in every 12 uninfected mice contracted the parasite infection. This was after living with 20 bed bugs carrying the parasite for 30 days.
Yet another experiment was performed and the researchers successfully infected mice with the feces of bed bugs. The infections were placed on the skin of the animal that had been scraped using a needle or the ones inflamed by the bites of bed bugs. The final experiment on this study was in Philadelphia and they discovered bed bugs excrete while they feed just like triatomines.
Bed Bugs vs. Kissing Bugs
Kissing bugs, as well as bed bugs, are not close cousins although they have similarities. They both hide in the crevices and cracks of the house patiently waiting for night to fall. When night falls, they feed on their sleeping host. They both feed only on blood and they belong to the same insects’ order – Hemiptera. However, they have differences and one of them is that the size of kissing bugs is five times bigger than that of bed bugs. With these similarities, the authors found it logical that the infamous trait of the kissing bugs, which is T.cruzi transmission, bed bugs also have it.
This suspicion has also been one of speculation by some researchers. In the year 1912, years after the transmission mode of kissing bugs was described by Carlos Chagas, Émile Brumpt a French parasitologist shared how he infected about hundred bed bugs that were exposed to infected mice. He also used the infected ones to infect 2 healthy mice. His work was replicated years after by some Argentine group.
Mice can eat and as well hunt bed bugs. The earlier studies concentrated mostly on documenting the parasite oral transmission. Recent research has been able to show bed bugs are capable of transmitting parasites when the feces of the bed bugs come in contact broken skin. This is how humans normally also can get it.
Emerging Problem
Many individuals in the US now suffer T.cruzi compared to the past. According to statistics,there are 300,000 Chagas cases in the US.
Another worrisome situation is bed bugs prevalence in Chagas-dominant areas. These cases are very rampant in regions where traditional parasite insect carriers are almost not existent. Bed bugs are vulnerable to Trypanosoma cruzi in these areas. Transmission may likely be seen again in areas which were thought to have been clear.
Killing bed bugs can be a challenge to kill compared to killing triatomines as a result of their nature to resist common insecticides. People hardly prepare for massive bed bug control. Should the parasite begin to spread via bed bugs, efforts made so far on the control of Chagas disease will be in vain.
Diagnosing Chagas Disease
Chagas disease which is also known as the silent killer can be a trick to diagnose especially when it is in early stages. This is due to the fact that in the early stages the signs or symptoms are either not there or mild. The parasite hides mostly in the digestive muscles and the heart over time, and they may likely lead to cardiac disorders, which may give neurological or digestive problems. The infection may likely cause heart failure or sudden death in the future, which is often a trigger of progressive destruction (PD) of heart muscle. However, some medications are capable of treating Chagas disease although the duration of the infection will affect their effectiveness.
The watch for new transmission outbreaks is not easy by Chagas diseases long asymptomatic period. For instance, a lot of people were in contact with the parasite in Arequipa before the case was in any hospital. According to the authors, this could also happen in the US should the parasite choose to surface in the populations of bed bug, which is why proper preparation should be in place to prevent such case from happening in the US. Read More…
