(Photo by Gabriel L. Hamer from the Texas A&M University Kissing Bug Website)
Do Not Handle This Bug.
These are Triatoma, or kissing bugs. The bugs themselves are not much to look at, but rather it’s the parasites that they carry that are cause for concern.
Chagas diseaseis transmitted by kissing bugs when they bite their sleeping victim and the parasite (in their defecation) is exposed to the wound. This disease has two stages, acute and chronic. The chronic stage may not show up until years, decades, down the line and by then can cause a long list of health problems, including sudden death.
At this point, there isn’t really a general consensus about how worried people should be about Chagas disease. I’ve seen it compared to AIDS, and I’ve also seen people say it only affects dogs(false).
About four years ago I was working in NE Kansas. Before we could go out, we were given flyers about Chagas and kissing bugs - as the location we were going was known to have them and there was a chance we could accidentally touch them. If we did? Scrub, scrub with soap and don’t touch your face (much like with a certain virus going around nowadays). If we saw any kissing bugs wandering, we were to kill them and bleach the surface they were walking on.
Fortunately, I never saw them on that trip. Two years later I saw one in my house. I’ve seen even more this year. I don’t particularly live in the deep south, and I don’t live in a rural area at all.
(Photo by Texas A&M University Kissing Bug Website - the shaded areas represent states that have reported Triatoma)
With summers warming every year, we can expect these bugs to move more and more northward. The reason I am making this post?
People have been mistaking these for stinkbugs. They have been handling them, not knowing the danger these bugs pose. Hell, even the health center I contacted didn’t even know that Chagas disease existed.
TLDR: Don’t touch these bugs, don’t let your pets touch these bugs. They carry a parasite that can cause sudden death years down the line.
For more information (please, I haven’t included nearly everything over this issue, nor am I an expert), check out Texas A&M University’s research team’s website:https://kissingbug.tamu.edu/
Important note if you are bitten by one of these bugs: acute infection with the parasite is treatable to prevent future complications, and “sudden death” is rare in otherwise healthy adults.
Losing my mind remembering that pic chelsea manning posted of the extremely undercover and not at all obvious fbi agent who was tailing her after her release
what kind of sixth sense do american have to recognize fbi agents that easily
to paraphrase her, its always the shoes.
americans please explain to a foreigner, he looks like some random dude to me
1. They all have the same haircut, almost everybody in law enforcement and the military have the same haircut due to regulations.
2. They all wear the same shoes. Same boots, and same overpolished dress shoes.
3. They act different. Shifty eyed and always on their own.
4. They’re kinda really bad at their jobs. I’ve encountered plenty of “undercover” cops outside of bars that ask questions no regular person in their right mind would ever ask. “How are you getting home?” “Who did you come here with tonight?”
5. America is a police state on a budget. Most officers are poorly trained, fbi agents require a 4 year degree (I think), but lord knows how much training they actually get. And the dumb kids from your high school always become cops.
It’s always the dense as a brick kid, with something to prove that becomes a cop. The kid that mouth-breathed and couldn’t chew gum and walk at the same time.
Their shirts are never form fitting so they can conceal a weapon and cuffs.
Always look at the watch, it’ll be expensive but in neutral tones (uniform standards strike again).
They will always sit where they can see their target and the nearest exit.
They will have a partner who is less obvious but wil point a recording device (phone or camera) at you. Check elevated positions, it gives them the clearest view to track you and keep an eye on their partner at the same time.
One time when i lived in phoenix, I was driving home through residential streets from Panda Express on April 20th and there was a 40something year old white man standing quite literally in the MIDDLE of the fucking road wearing a brand new straight from the store weed jersey (jersey #420 with a big pot leaf), a wornout old raiders hat, regular-fit straight leg jeans, and cop shoes. This man proceeded to try to wave me down to stop since I was driving slowly (again, residential neighborhood) and as he did so fully yelled “You buying bro? You buying? 420 bro 420 you buying?”
I almost choked laughing so hard. I couldn’t stop myself from just yelling “NO THANK YOU OFFICER” as i drove by him.
for the past 60 years law enforcement, military, and even literal espionage/intelligence based organizations have assumed that rigid conformity to dress code was more important then actually training how to go undercover, blend in, or understand what the fuck theyre doing
largely because the ‘we are infallible’ mindset is too strong for them to consider they might not be doing very good
shoutout to the two “undercover cops” who were at my school to monitor the student body for a week, acting like “substitute assistants” and literally all of the kids immediately recognised them as cops and everyone would address them only as “officer” which annoyed the hell out of them because “we aren’t cops” like sir you literally have your badge in your back pocket and a taser what fucking substitute assistant would have an actual police badge and a whole ass taser??
Just a casual reminder that this is what secret police are. Like, this is the literal definition. Police who are (badly or otherwise) pretending to not be police.
i know this has eight billion notes already but i love sharing these images
This thread reminds me of this story lol
I worked security at a train station during the protests in the CHAZ in Seattle thankfully for the most part people realized security (at least station security) made just three bucks above minimum wage and so long as they didn’t vandalized the station itself we wouldn’t cause them any trouble.
Anyway. There are two breeds of folks in security there so far as I found. Wannabe cops and people that hated cops (in the event of a guard being assaulted it wasn’t uncommon for cops to wait in their cars) there was a group of guards, myself and three others that got in so much trouble. In the hours before the protests got into swing, there’d be a whole bunch of milling about. We’d interact with people, greeting them and being friendly that sort of thing (part of our job) well there were dozens of plain clothes undercover cops around. If we spotted one we’d say ‘hello officer’ as way of a polite greeting. Every time these guys got mad. Eventually we were accused of remembering their faces and trying to compromise their safety. To which we all said pretty much the same thing. We see hundreds of not thousands of people a day. There is no way we could memorize a cops face. It wasn’t our fault that their ‘disguises’ made it painfully clear they were cops.
Fun fact about that entire affair. Nearly every night I was in Seattle and the protests got destructive to my eye it was always white guys in loose fitting shirts, boot cut jeans with short cropped haircuts and polished black boots that started throwing stones or whatever.
You shouldn’t have stopped people from vandalizing the light rail those pass card scanners have no place existing in a civilized society and should be destroyed but given that your job is likely primarily fair enforcement it isn’t surprising seeing this misguided mentality.
