The posts shared on Facebook recently about a deadly insect called the kissing bug in the southern United States have Kansas residents alarmed. They have been seeing suspicious creatures around their houses, which resemble the deadly insect. Fortunately, it turned out to be nothing but cousins to the real deal. It's a different story when you travel to south Texas though.
Jim Mason, director of the Great Plains Nature Center in Wichita said that he fully expects people to talk about the issue more and also added that he is expecting to get calls from people who will have an encounter with a box elder-bug this winter season. A box elder-bug is a similar colored bug but they don't harm anybody as a kissing bug could.
Triatomine bugs, or commonly known as kissing bugs are originally from Latin America, and have been heading up north into the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, these bugs are able to carry parasites that can cause Chagas disease, which usually causes serious heart and stomach illnesses, which may cause sudden death.
CDC's map on its website revealed that the deadly insects have been found in Kansas. However, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment only had one reported incident of Chagas disease back in 2014, said Cassie Sparks, public information officer for the public health agency.
The case was discovered through a blood test at a blood bank in a person who didn't have any symptoms and was bitten by a kissing bug years earlier while traveling to the southern part of the United States.
Mason has been getting reports of mistaken identity. A number of residents have been reporting cases of what they believe to be kissing bug, only to later find out that it's an assassin bug, which is not safe to play with but not as deadly as the kissing bug. A few leaf-footed bugs have been sent in to the Extension Center, they were again believed to be kissing bugs said the extension agent Rebecca McMahon. These leaf-footed bugs bite only pine and catalpa trees.
McMahon also said that she has not heard anyone talk about the kissing bugs around her. However, she has met people calling about or bringing bugs to the Extension Center. She thinks these leaf-footed bugs and other bugs that were recently seen are starting to go dormant because cold seasons are coming. So these bugs are probably looking for a warm place to hide and go dormant.
