Chagas Disease, Which Can be Deadly, is Now Considered Endemic in the U.S.

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Chagas disease, which can be deadly, is now considered endemic in the U.S.:

This article was updated Sept. 2, 2025.

Chagas disease, a potentially deadly condition transmitted by an insect known as the "kissing bug," is now endemic in the United States, according to a September report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The disease is already considered endemic in Latin America, where an estimated 8 million people are infected but most don't know it, the CDC says. Researchers contend that recognizing Chagas disease as endemic here will support more effective education about the condition in medical schools and better prepare physicians to identify it.

Experts estimate about 45,000 people in Los Angeles County are infected - among more than 300,000 in the United States - and fewer than 2% of them know they carry the parasite transmitted by the "kissing bug."

"Most people living with Chagas disease are unaware of their diagnosis, often until it's too late to have effective treatment," says Judith Currier, MD, chief of infectious diseases at UCLA Health.

Also known as the conenose bug, barber bug or vinchuca in Spanish, "kissing bugs" - so named because they bite people on the face - feast on human blood. After they bite, they defecate, which deposits the parasite they carry, known as T. cruzi, onto the skin.

When the bitten person scratches the itchy bite, they inadvertently rub the parasite into the wound, which is how it enters the bloodstream, explains Shaun Yang, PhD, a professor of clinical microbiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Many people with Chagas disease are asymptomatic throughout its acute and chronic phases.

During the acute phase, which lasts about two months, some people experience severe swelling of the eyelid, "which is almost a hallmark of acute Chagas infection," Dr. Yang says. Other acute symptoms may include fever, fatigue, body aches, headache, loss of appetite, diarrhea and vomiting. But because these symptoms are similar to those of other illnesses, most people don't immediately consider the source to be infection with the T. cruzi parasite.

During the chronic phase of the disease, which can last a lifetime, about 20% of those infected will develop serious heart or digestive problems. Chagas disease can cause an enlarged heart, heart failure or cardiac arrest; an enlarged colon; or an enlarged esophagus.

Left untreated, Chagas disease "kills the heart very slowly," Dr. Yang says.

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