Thanks Obama - Northern Virginia named U.S. hub of 'kissing bug disease'
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Date: July 25, 2014 01:02PM
WASHINGTON -- It's called the "kissing bug disease" and while it sounds cute, it can be deadly.
Scientists say the parasite-born disease is making its way north from Latin America and Northern Virginia is being called the hub of the kissing bug disease, called Chagas.
"It's a disease many people in this country have never heard of," says Rachel Cohen, regional executive director of Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative North America.
Chagas is common in poverty-stricken areas in Latin America and has moved north with those who have traveled or immigrated from there, Cohen says. The disease affects eight million people a year, according to the World Health Organization.
"It's not a blood-borne disease. It's an insect--borne disease, so it's communicable, but not in the sense that it's an immediate threat to anybody," Cohen says.
A recent Atlantic article names Northern Virginia as "ground zero" for Chagas in the U.S.
That's because many families from Bolivia live in the community, Cohen says. Bolivia is one of the countries hardest hit by Chagas in South America. Though most, if they carry the disease, wouldn't know it, she says.
"Most people can go years without having symptoms and when they do develop they are very serious," she says.
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