If you suspect you may have kissing bugs, check for clues like feces and eggs. Feces may be spread on walls and can be both white and dark, and usually look like stripes. Eggs can be found in wall crevices and are mostly white or pinkish.
There are several insects that are commonly mistaken for “kissing bugs”that do occur in and around homes statewide, including western conifer-seed bug and masked hunter.
Kissing bugs are so named because they like to bite around the mouth or eyes. You'll often see 2-15 bite marks in one area and maybe redness and swelling. It might be hard to tell them apart from other bug bites, minor skin irritations, or infections.
Kissing bugs can carry a parasite that causes Chagas disease, but this is not common in Canada or the United States. Itching from the bites can be so bad that some people will scratch enough to cause breaks in the skin that get infected easily. The bites can also cause a serious allergic reaction in some people.
Indeed, wheel bugs and a few other true bugs continue to be misidentified on social media as kissing bugs. Two of the most common faux-kissers appearing on social media are boxelder bugs (Boisea trivittata) and western conifer seed bugs (Leptoglossus occidentalis).
Where are triatomine bugs typically found? Triatomine bugs (also called “kissing bugs”, cone-nosed bugs, and blood suckers) can live indoors, in cracks and holes of substandard housing, or in a variety of outdoor settings including the following: Beneath porches. Between rocky structures.
Kissing bugs feed on humans as well as wild and domestic animals and pets. They can live between one to two years from when they hatch out of the egg, through all five of the immature nymph stages, until they become adults and eventually die. Kissing bugs take many blood meals from various hosts throughout their lives.
If found inside the home, kissing bugs are often in: Bedrooms; under or near mattresses or night stands. Near pet beds. Areas of rodent infestation.
Step 2: Do Not Squish It
Chagas disease spreads through the kissing bug's feces, which may have contaminated its body. Handling the bug can potentially soil your hands, and if the bug is infected and you touch your mouth, eyes, or an open wound, you could contract the illness.
See your doctor if you live in or have traveled to an area where Chagas disease is widespread and you have signs and symptoms of the condition. Symptoms may include swelling at the infection site, fever, fatigue, body aches, rash and nausea.
They are found all over America, but species have also been found in Asia, Africa and Australia. Since kissing bugs feed off the blood of vertebrates, they are found living in close proximity to them.
Kissing bugs are bloodsucking insects that can transmit the dangerous and potentially lethal Chagas disease and also cause allergic reactions. They are most commonly encountered in the southwest desert (Tucson, AZ area) during the months of May through July.
Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona are the states with the most different species and most findings of kissing bugs. Scientists have found that about 50% of kissing bugs are infected with the Chagas parasite. Kissing bugs are a 'vector' because they can carry a parasite that can make people and animal sick.
Kissing bugs can pass the parasite to hosts by biting and then pooping near the site of the bite. The parasite then can move from the kissing bug feces into the bite wound. Kissing bugs can enter houses, hunting cabins, dog kennels, or other areas where they look for people and animals to bite and feed on blood.
Kissing bugs are also able to sing, although the purpose of stridulating or sound production is unknown.
To kill the parasite, Chagas disease can be treated with benznidazole or nifurtimox. Both medicines are fully effective in curing the disease if given soon after infection at the onset of the acute phase, including the cases of congenital transmission.
The truth is that assassin/kissing bugs have been in the U.S. for a long time and Chagas Disease is nothing new – but it is rare. Although it is rare to find kissing bugs in the U.S., they are not impossible to see around homes and businesses.
Tips for How to Get Rid of Kissing Bugs
Move any wood or debris piles away from the house. Use an insecticide spray with pyrethroid to control an infestation.
Their bites are gentle and painless, and usually occur while the victim is asleep. They are generally unable to bite through clothing.
You can also distinguish a wheel bug from a kissing bug by its size and color. Wheel bugs are 1-1.25 inches long, and they are dull greyish-brown in color. Eastern conenose kissing bugs are 0.6-0.9 inches long, mostly black in color, with lateral orange-red stripes on their abdomen.
The diagnosis of Chagas disease can be made by observation of the parasite in a blood smear by microscopic examination.
Kissing bugs overwinter as developing nymphs and molt into adults in spring. Females can lay up to several hundred eggs over their lifespan depending upon conditions.
The kissing bug belongs to the Reduviidae family of insects. This family is also referred to as assassin bugs. But this family of bugs doesn't get the name “assassin” because it transmits Chagas disease (also known as kissing bug disease).
Since bed bugs like to hide in cracks and crevices, Dr. Pereira says you might have an easier time seeing signs that the nasty critters were there vs. actually having a bed bug sighting. Bed bugs will leave black fecal spots (basically dried, digested blood) around the places they're hiding.