Reduviid Bug


As commonly used, any bug that acts as a vector for Chagas disease, so named because they often bite on the face. It is a cone-nosed haematophagous insect with various hosts in the tropics and subtropics; it measures 1-4 cm and is ‘autumn-colored’; its bite elicits papules, painful urticaria, haemorrhagic bulla, occasionally angiooedema, anaphylactoid reaction, and shock; it is also the vector for trypanosoma—Chaga’s disease—causing inflammation, atrophy and fibrosis of Auerbach’s plexus ganglion cells, resulting in acquired megacolon