Kissing Bug — printable fact sheet

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Kissing Bug

Triatoma infestans

Kissing bugs (subfamily Triatominae) are blood-feeding true bugs of the Americas that get their gentle name from a nasty habit: they feed at night on sleeping people, often around the lips and eyes where the skin is thin, and their saliva contains anaesthetics so the victim usua…

Classification

Invertebrate

Family

Reduviidae

Habitat

Human dwellings, cracks in walls, animal burrows, and nests

Diet

Carnivore (Hematophagous—blood-feeding)

Conservation status

Least Concern

Lifespan

6 months to 2 years

Weight

0.02 - 0.05 grams

Scientific name

Triatoma infestans

Did you know?

Kissing Bugs transmit Chagas disease not through their bite, but via their feces, which can enter the body through the bite wound or mucous membranes.
The parasite gets in through your own scratching, not the bite - which means a bug can feed on you harmlessly if the faeces never reach a break in the skin or a mucous membrane. Chagas is now also spread by oral transmission through contaminated acai juice and sugarcane juice in Brazil, when bugs are accidentally crushed during processing. Kissing bugs can survive many months between blood meals, which is why an infested house stays dangerous long after anyone stops sleeping in it.

What I learned

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