Calm down, Ohio.
Despite what you might have read or heard, you are not in any significant danger here of getting a life-threatening disease from kissing bugs.
Media reports of supposed infections in the South have whipped up worries about the insects and their ability to spread the chronic and potentially deadly Chagas disease. The threat is real in many parts of the world, but fears in this region are unwarranted, according to insect experts at Ohio State University.
“Chagas disease is an important illness throughout Central and South America. However, the risk of contracting this disease in Ohio is extremely low,” the university’s entomology department says on its website.
In fact, it’s rare for Chagas disease to be transmitted by bugs in the United States in general, said H. Amy Rowland, senior public affairs and communication specialist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fewer than 30 cases have been documented of Americans acquiring the disease from infected bugs in this country, according to Dr. Susan Montgomery, who leads a team at the CDC that focuses on parasitic diseases of domestic importance.
The CDC estimates 300,000 Americans have Chagas disease, but they could have contracted it elsewhere or by other means. Besides bug bites, Chagas can be transmitted by blood transfusions, by organ transplants and from infected mothers to their unborn babies.
Melanie Amato of the Ohio Department Health said no cases of Chagas disease have been reported in Ohio. However, she also noted counties are not required to report it.
Despite the recent media stories, there is no evidence to suggest the bugs are increasing in number, the CDC’s Rowland said in an email.
What’s probably happening, she said, is that people are becoming more aware of the bugs and the disease, so they’re recognizing kissing bugs more often. They might also be spotting similar insects and mistaking them for kissing bugs, she said.
Kissing bugs are more accurately called triatomine bugs. Their common name comes from the fact that they often bite their victims around the mouth.
Ohio has one native species of the bug, the Eastern bloodsucking conenose.
That species is capable of spreading the parasite that causes Chagas disease, but Ohio Sate University entomologist Norman Johnson said he’s not aware of that ever happening in Ohio. In fact, kissing bugs rarely bite people at all unless they’re picked up or otherwise threatened, he said.
Usually they feed on the blood of wild animals.
Kissing bugs also prefer to live and feed in wooded or brushy areas, Rowland said. So they’re not normally close to humans — especially not at night, which is when the bugs usually feed.
Another reason kissing bugs are rarely a threat in the United States is that most people here live in housing that’s built to keep out cold or inclement weather, said Mario Grijalva, a Chagas disease expert who directs the Tropical Disease Institute at Ohio University. Transmission by kissing bugs is a problem in areas with warmer conditions and widespread poverty, where homes are poorly sealed or screened and bugs can get in easily, he said.
Food-preparation methods in those areas can contribute, too. Sometimes the bugs fall into juices or other drinks while they’re being prepared, Grijalva said.
The bugs often transmit the Chagas-causing parasite from wildlife, and in Texas the parasite has also been found in dogs and other domestic animals, Grijalva said. That could potentially happen in Ohio, he said, although he is not aware of any studies into that type of transmission here.
Mary Beth Breckenridge can be reached at 330-996-3756 or mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com. You can also become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MBBreckABJ, follow her on Twitter @MBBreckABJ and read her blog at www.ohio.com/blogs/mary-beth.