Scientists are calling on health authorities to classify Chagas disease – sometimes known as the “kissing bug disease” – as endemic to the United States. Kissing bugs carry the parasite that causes Chaga disease and researchers have found the bug and parasite are present in Missouri and Illinois.
“Classifying the disease as endemic could improve surveillance, research and public health responses”, said Phil Budge, an Associate Professor of Medicine, Infectious Diseases at Washington University. Budge indicated that classifying Chagas as endemic is not meant to scare residents about getting sick, but rather a call for a new understanding about the disease that would improve diagnostics and research.”