More than you might care to know about the Conenose, the most maligned bug in the Big Bend.
(This article first appeared in our June 2005 issue of the Gazette.)
by John Waters, Publisher
Conenose Bug, Kissing Bug, and Assassin Bug are all common names given to an insect well known to and despised by Big Bend residents for one characteristic: it sucks their blood…at night.
Considered by entomologists to be “true bugs” (those insects that have blood sucking mouthparts) our conenose belong to the family reduviidae. While most members of this family are predators and feed on other insects or bugs, scientifically speaking Triatoma sanguisuga feed on blood: yours, mine, dogs,’ and rodents.’
And they are not quick or clean about it. Entomologists at the University of Arizona estimate conenose need a good 10 minutes feeding on our blood before they are full. In many parts of Latin America they defecate after feeding on blood, leaving feces in the wounds created minutes before; often this feces contains a parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Are they defecating and leaving this parasite here?
When I moved to the Big Bend there were a few things people told me about, heat, hydration, rattlesnakes, lightning, and conenose bugs. As a longtime resident of Everglades National Park I was familiar with all of the aforementioned and thought I had encountered every insect known to this hemisphere. Although conenose are in Florida I had not encountered one.
A great concern for people posed by conenose is their ability to transmit Trypanosoma cruzi, commonly referred to as Chagas disease, named after its Brazilian discoverer Carlos Chagas. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimate that between 16 and 18 million people in Latin America have Chagas. It is the leading cause of heart disease in Latin America where 50,000 people die from it each year.
In its chronic phase, over several years Chagas disease causes a loss of heart muscle tone resulting in the enlargement of the heart, leading to heart failure. The CDC estimates there are 100,000 people living in the United States who have acquired it overseas.
What about acquiring it here? Is it a possibility? Dr. Stephen Aley of the University of Texas at El Paso thinks no, or mostly no.
“The basic answer is no,” said Aley. “We don’t know of chronic disease being acquired here. The CDC has about a half dozen cases with Trypanosomiasis…. There was the case of dogs in east Texas….”
In 2002, after several dogs died in San Benito, Texas, personnel from the Texas Department f Health, Cameron County Health Department and the CDC tested hundreds of dogs and several owners for Chagas. While no humans tested positive, 7.5% of the dogs did. This proof of a domestic transmission cycle is a cause for concern; and transmission of Chagas may occur again in Texas.
Currently Dr. Aley says the most pressing health risk to Texans from Conenose is anaphylactic shock. Reactions to conenose can vary widely from almost none to a life-threatening shock reaction. If you are bitten, RN and Terlingua Ranch resident Joanne Garrison, suggests the following protocol:
1. Wash the area around the bite with hot soapy water
2. Check with your local pharmacy for over the counter itch remedy
3. If any adverse reaction, swelling, see a doctor.
To avoid having the bugs at all, secure your home: fill in and close any cracks in your home. Clean for dust; during their larval stage conenose attach to dust particles. Keep the area outside your home free from rodent dens and detritus – conenose nest here.
If conenose have entered your house they will become active at night seeking blood, either from you or your pet. After they feast, they become inactive and remain near their host, i.e. you in bed. Search your home near your bed to see if you have any of the bugs, and remove or exterminate them. It is also a good idea to search your bedding each night before retiring.
If you think you might have severe allergic reactions, invest in mosquito netting for your bed.
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