title: Free-roaming kissing bugs, vectors of Chagas disease, feed often on humans in the Southwest.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Kissing bugs, vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite that causes Chagas disease, are common in the desert Southwest. After a dispersal flight in summer, adult kissing bugs occasionally gain access to houses where they remain feeding on humans and pets. How often wild, free-roaming kissing bugs feed on humans outside their homes has not been studied. This is important because contact of kissing bugs with humans is one means of gauging the risk for acquisition of Chagas disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  We captured kissing bugs in a zoological park near Tucson, Arizona, where many potential vertebrate hosts are on display, as well as being visited by more than 300,000 humans annually. Cloacal contents of the bugs were investigated for sources of blood meals and infection with T. cruzi.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eight of 134 captured bugs were randomly selected and investigated. All 8 (100%) had human blood in their cloacae, and 7 of 8 (88%) had fed on various vertebrates on display or feral in the park. Three bugs (38%) were infected with T. cruzi. Three specimens of the largest species of kissing bug in the United States (Triatoma recurva) were captured in a cave and walking on a road; 2 of 3 (67%) had fed on humans. No T. recurva harbored T. cruzi.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study establishes that free-roaming kissing bugs, given the opportunity, frequently feed on humans outside the confines of their homes in the desert Southwest and that some harbored T. cruzi. This could represent a hitherto unrecognized potential for transmission of Chagas disease in the United States.
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz. Electronic address: sklotz@u.arizona.edu.
authors.forename: Stephen A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Klotz
authors.affiliation: Southwestern Biological Institute, Tucson, Ariz.
authors.forename: Justin O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Loyola University, New Orleans, La.
authors.forename: Patricia L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Dorn
authors.affiliation: Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson, Ariz.
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ivanyi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington.
authors.forename: Katherine R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington.
authors.forename: Lori
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Stevens
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D000836:Animals, Zoo / Q000469:parasitology; D001130:Arizona / Q000453:epidemiology; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007299:Insect Bites and Stings; D007303:Insect Vectors; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014224:Triatoma / Q000469:parasitology*; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi
keywords: Chagas disease; Kissing bugs; Triatominae; Trypanosoma cruzi