As Disease Vector
Chagas disease is caused by the parasitic protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. Infection with Chagas disease occurs after Rhodnius releases protozoans in its feces immediately following a blood meal. The parasite enters the victim through the bite wound after the human host scratches the bite. Infection may also occur via blood transfusion and ingestion of food contaminated with kissing bug feces.
Read more about this topic: Rhodnius Prolixus
Famous quotes containing the word disease:
“The inconveniences and horrors of the pox are perfectly well known to every one; but still the disease flourishes and spreads. Several million people were killed in a recent war and half the world ruined; but we all busily go on in courses that make another event of the same sort inevitable. Experientia docet? Experientia doesn’t.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)