“Until you heal the wounds of your past, you are going to bleed. You can bandage the bleeding with food, with alcohol, with drugs, with work, with cigarettes, with sex; But eventually, it will all ooze through and stain your life. You must find the strength to open the wounds, Stick your hands inside, pull out the core of the pain that is holding you in your past, the memories and make peace with them.”
(Photo by Gabriel L. Hamer from the Texas A&M University Kissing Bug Website)
Do Not Handle This Bug.
These are Triatoma, or kissing bugs. The bugs themselves are not much to look at, but rather it’s the parasites that they carry that are cause for concern.
Chagas diseaseis transmitted by kissing bugs when they bite their sleeping victim and the parasite (in their defecation) is exposed to the wound. This disease has two stages, acute and chronic. The chronic stage may not show up until years, decades, down the line and by then can cause a long list of health problems, including sudden death.
At this point, there isn’t really a general consensus about how worried people should be about Chagas disease. I’ve seen it compared to AIDS, and I’ve also seen people say it only affects dogs(false).
About four years ago I was working in NE Kansas. Before we could go out, we were given flyers about Chagas and kissing bugs - as the location we were going was known to have them and there was a chance we could accidentally touch them. If we did? Scrub, scrub with soap and don’t touch your face (much like with a certain virus going around nowadays). If we saw any kissing bugs wandering, we were to kill them and bleach the surface they were walking on.
Fortunately, I never saw them on that trip. Two years later I saw one in my house. I’ve seen even more this year. I don’t particularly live in the deep south, and I don’t live in a rural area at all.
(Photo by Texas A&M University Kissing Bug Website - the shaded areas represent states that have reported Triatoma)
With summers warming every year, we can expect these bugs to move more and more northward. The reason I am making this post?
People have been mistaking these for stinkbugs. They have been handling them, not knowing the danger these bugs pose. Hell, even the health center I contacted didn’t even know that Chagas disease existed.
TLDR: Don’t touch these bugs, don’t let your pets touch these bugs. They carry a parasite that can cause sudden death years down the line.
For more information (please, I haven’t included nearly everything over this issue, nor am I an expert), check out Texas A&M University’s research team’s website:https://kissingbug.tamu.edu/
Hello there. I just spent about $800 or more dealing with and getting rid of bed bugs (and my infestation was thankfully not bad at all) so Im making this post to hopefully help someone else out there.
What are they?
horrible tiny bugs that are masters of hiding that come out at night and suck human blood (although they can bite pets)
they are good at hiding but they can’t really burrow down into things, so they tend to hide in folds and creases of your mattress and box spring
they can only suck blood and inject anticoagulant to make you bleed. they dont have claws or pincer mouth parts, so their only defense is hiding when they’re not eating
they do lay eggs but they don’t lay a ton of them. if you catch them early enough, then there might not be too many bugs in your home
How do they get in my house?
it only takes one to start an infestation. they can be picked up just about anywhere, but the more likely places are associated with high volumes of travel: hotels, buses, trains, airports, and sometimes even hospitals, nursing homes, or day cares
they sometimes come in on luggage, personal bags, or shoes, hide until they feel comfortable, and then seek out people, which they can track by body heat and air exhalation
How do I know if I have them?
if you are getting insect bites on your arms, back, and legs which are not the little red spots of flea bites and also not the small swollen spots of mosquito bites. bed bug bites tend to swell up a lot across patches of skin, especially if you’re allergic to them (which most people are)
basically they look like rashes or welts and they can be VERY itchy
also, if you inspect your mattress and box spring and you notice tiny little spots of blood on the edges, it’s a fairly clear sign
the actual bugs are very small and hard to spot but sometimes you can find their eggs, which are also tiny and white in color, in your dryer lint
Can I get rid of them with sprays?
unfortunately no. any of the sprays you can buy at Walmart or any other store are useless unless you are spraying the bug directly. the only method of completely eradicating them for good is to contact an exterminator and have them handle it. the sooner the better
if you do see them, you can spray them, but doing so will only be scratching the surface of the actual infestation
Do I have to get a new mattress or new bedding?
as long as you thoroughly wash and dry all of your bedding, you don’t have to get rid of anything. make sure you dry on high heat to kill anything that might potentially be hiding in it
also a VERY important thing to get is a zipped mattress protector. put that on your mattress and your box spring and the bugs will never be able to get through it. you can sleep comfortably again. it HAS to be a zipped protector that completely encases the mattress
and vacuum your floor. vacuum it and empty the vacuum immediately. throw the contents away, tie it all up tight in a trash bag, and take it to the dumpster right away
I truly hope that nobody reading this ever has to go through what I went through. It’s frustrating not being able to sleep because you’re so worried you’re going to get bitten by tiny bugs you can’t even see. It’s not your fault if you get them; it only takes one to start a serious problem.
But if you do suspect them, act on it as quickly as possible. The worse it gets, the more expensive it is to treat your home to eliminate them.
