We were somewhat astonished when earlier this week, and all of a sudden, news reports started popping up about the critters known as "kissing bugs" (Triatoma sanguisuga) and the spread of Chagas' disease.
Chagas is one of those parasitic conditions (caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which the nasty kissing bugs carry around with them) that has been around for a while but not "around here." It's a tropical-area disease, and has only in recent years been acknowledged as being in the U.S.
You can read about what got everybody all worked up over Chagas at this link from Fox News, where they act like they only just heard about both the bug and the parasite.
We, however, have been staying up with the ongoing parasitic infestations in this country, since most of them do come from one of two places: A lab, such as Plum Island across the way from Lyme, Connecticut; or people bringing them in from tropical climes...like where most of our illegals are coming from.
And a little over three years ago, we produced an article about bed bugs in Lawrencville, and happened to mention both the kissing bugs as well as the parasite they carry that causes Chagas. Here's a snip:
The bed bug issue came to light in an early-March letter sent home with students in Lawrence County’s Community Unit School District No. 20.
March/April 2016 print version/e-Edition of Disclosure
The letter advised that “a” bed bug (as in, one) was found in CUSD 20. It did not specify which school, which grade, or whether the bug was on a child, an adult, or grubbing around somewhere on a desk or other surface.
But the pseudo-information didn’t stop there.
“Bed bugs are a nuisance,” the letter read, “but their bites are not known to spread disease,” a statement that many in the medical community would take issue with immediately, as recent studies have indicated that the feared Chagas Disease, caused by a tropical parasite that resides in bugs. includes the blood-sucking bed bug.
The letter indicated that an inspection of the school was going to be done and pest management would be brought into play if it were discovered that there was an infestation; however, schools aren’t always the most habitable buildings for bed bugs, mainly because they need…well, beds. Bed bugs reside in folds and seams of mattresses (for the most part) and will colonize and breed there as well as in wooden frames, walls adjacent to beds, and furniture near beds, because they need to consume blood in order to feed, and a reposing human is just the thing. Therefore, they inhabit places where humans sleep…hence the name “bed bug.”
We even had a graphic of the Chagas-carrying critter, which, if you have your online membership to the e-Edition, you'll be able to see.
Why mainstream media is being so disingenuous over this is a mystery. At the time, Chagas had already infected as many as 300,000 people in the U.S. (and the actual number is probably a LOT higher, as American doctors don't routinely acknowledge that people in astonishing numbers are infected with a parasite in any form, nor do they routinely test for such a thing, even when you request it. Believe me when I tell you, this is something we know, having dealt with Lyme disease for the past several years.)
American medicine falls desperately short of the mark of being able to manage these emerging diseases when so many of them are spread by parasites. Hubris-filled doctors think that they only way a person can contract such parasites would be by traveling to "other countries." They neglect to note that people from "other countries" are flooding into this one, unchecked; that so much of our food, possibly contaminated by these people in "other countries" when they pick it or prepare it, might bear a parasite or two; or that good ol Americans are busy spreading parasites around in public restrooms, buffet/salad bars, businesses that allow pets in them (or even vet's offices, for that matter) and of course your everyday pet ownership (cats, as an example, carry a huge number of parasites that can be unaddressed by your local vet).
The very fact that we wrote about Chagas being spread back in 2016, and subsequently this week's "revelatory" articles about it, should tell you that you're having it pulled over on you. Do some research. Find out how you not only can avoid this crap - a lot of it unabashedly manufactured in labs - but also how you can get rid of it, without medicine, if you have it. Parasitic diseases don't have to sideline you. Learn how to support your body's own immune system so you can avoid them.