[television is just wrong]

P.S. I've seen these kissing bugs. Scares the hell out of me.

bankrupting our medical system and blaming us for it.

[gubamyster]

ping

[BipolarBob]

Move on. Nothing to see here folks. This is just diversity in action.

[Brad’s Gramma]

A Los Angeles County hospital has opened the first clinic in the country devoted to studying and treating Chagas disease, a deadly parasitic illness that has long been the leading cause of heart failure in Latin America and is now being seen in immigrant communities in the United States.

Well, isn't this just ducky?

[Army Air Corps]

Spreading the diseases that Americans won’t spread?

[Army Air Corps]

The description of this insect is rather nasty.

[Army Air Corps]

The Conenose

[Catholic Canadian]

Great...and you guys have complained vociferously in the past about Canada’s borders......

[X-FID]

P.S. I've seen these kissing bugs. Scares the hell out of me.

I have seen the Blood-Sucking Conenose at work and we captured 2 of them.

They are very scary looking, you can get a pic online.

Huge cone tucked under their head, forget about the disease, these boys can deliver some pain. Never saw them in the area until 2000.

[Brad’s Gramma]

So. I Googled this disease. I found this regarding symptoms....

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001372.htm

The last sentence reads:

“Because the incidence of Chagas disease is low in the United States, blood banks here do not screen donors for Chagas disease.” Update Date: 9/25/2006

[manic4organic]

I think the headline would have been just as good without the last word.

[Red Badger]

DDT.......NOW!..........

[HKMk23]

The Chagas’ disease protozoan, Trypanosoma cruzi, that is transmitted by conenose bugs is not directly transmitted during feeding but excreted in their feces. If the fecal material is scratched into the bite or onto mucous membranes, it can enter the human body; therefore, always disinfect the bite site with iodine to prevent infection, and then wash it to remove fecal material. Because Latin American species are more likely to defecate immediately after feeding than are species found in the United States, protozoan transmission is more likely in Latin America. Immediate or acute symptoms of this disease include swelling of the face, high or moderate fever that develops about 2 weeks after the victim is bitten, swelling of other body areas, and sometimes nervous system disorders. If the patient recovers, chronic infection becomes established and may result in cardiac damage or other serious disorders and even death.

Cite:
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7455.html

[Sarajevo]

A Los Angeles County hospital has opened the first clinic in the country devoted to studying and treating Chagas disease

The study has already been done. I just wonder how much the grant is worth.

Chagas Disease (American Trypanosomiasis)

[ZULU]

Just the tip of the ice berg with our uncontrolled borders thanks tot he criminal actions - or inactions in Congress and the White House on illegal invaders.

Expect a lot more of these “exotic” diseases, many of which have horrible manifestations and many of which we have little or control over.

Many tropical pathogens are not well studied.

[VeniVidiVici]

Because Latin American species are more likely to defecate immediately after feeding than are species found in the United States, protozoan transmission is more likely in Latin America.

There's a joke in here somewhere.