Animal Lovers

Take a look at this bug. If you see this but, stay away, they are blood sucking insects that can cause Chagas disease! It is called the kissing bug, the scientific name is triatominae. The kissing bug also goes by the name conenose bugs, assassin bugs, and vampire bugs. They are a relatively new threat in the United States. Normally, these pests are found in Australia, Africa, Asia, and in the southern U.S., but now there are reports of these bugs being seen further north. Image Credit: Twitter / PurduePPDL Kissing bugs are active at night and will attack people while they are sleeping. The bite may leave a parasite under the skin that may lead to Chagas disease. Individuals who have Chagas disease first experience flu-like symptoms. Image Credit: Facebook / snopes.com Approximately one-third of people will develop more serious problems. The Mayo Clinic lists the symptoms like aches, rash, fever, swollen glands, fatigue, and loss of appetite. A more severe case wil...

Owning a pet is a big responsibility, and besides simply feeding or grooming it, care must be taken to make sure you’re both kept healthy when new diseases make their rounds. One of the ways that humans and animals both can find themselves in danger is from outside forces such as bugs and parasites. Ticks and fleas are common, but a new threat, the Kissing Bug, has been making it’s way out of South America and Mexico into the southern United States, like Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. This little bug passes along a pretty serious parasitic infection to both humans and animals alike, that if left untreated can cause congestive heart failure. Worse still, many people are unaware they – or their pets – have it until it’s gotten to an advanced stage where it’s already started attacking the heart muscles. If you’re in one of the areas where the Kissing Bug may have started showing up, a good level of due diligence is in order! To start with, most sy...