Northern Virginia National Hub of 'Kissing Bug Disease'

A boy born in Northern Virginia in 2010 became the first documented case in the United States of mother-to-child transmission of Chagas, commonly known as the “kissing bug disease,” One doctor tells The Atlantic that Northern Virginia could be “ground zero” for Chagas Disease.

There are reportedly only two-dozen people living with Chagas disease in the greater D.C. area, though the number could under-represent those afflicted with the disease. Doctors unfamiliar with Chagas do not routinely screen for it and many patients can carry the disease for years without showing symptoms, The Atlantic reports.

The disease is estimated to affect 300,000 people in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. An estimated 8 million people worldwide have Chagas disease, most of them in Latin America. Though the disease is curable, an estimated 11,000 people die from the disease every year, according to the World Health Organization.

Chagas disease is transmitted through a painless bite from triatomine insects, often called kissing bugs. Humans are most commonly exposed to the parasite through cuts in the skin or by rubbing their eyes, where feces of insects carrying the parasite can enter the body.

Those who are afflicted with Chagas may experience heart rhythm irregularities that could lead to heart disease or severe forms of parasitic infection that could cause inflammation of the brain, Sue Montgomery with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tells WTOP.