It is called Kissing Bugs because they are attracted to the Carbon Dioxide people breathe out and often bite near the mouth.
As the weather cools down, a creature called the Kissing Bug may try to sneak into your warm home. The parasites are called Kissing Bugs because they are attracted to the Carbon Dioxide people breathe out and often bite near the mouth. If you have pack rats in your yard, and they're making a nest there, it's a possibility because the bugs will be in the nest and if they're close to the house then the kissing bugs, if it's cool out like now, then the kissing bugs will find a way and they'll go in.. What to do if you find a kissing bug Kissing bugs Never touch a kissing bug with a bare hand. The parasite they may harbor can be transmitted to humans and other animals. If you see a bug you believe is a kissing bug and would like confirmation of the species identity and to submit it for testing, our lab accepts carefully obtained samples. Use a glove or small plastic bag to catch the bug to avoid direct contact with the bug. By Barbara Grijalva-email. One of the desert dwellers we have to live with can really freak us out if we don't know the truth about it. It's the kissing bug. The kissing bug is also called a cone-nose bug because of its unique head. The front is cone-shaped. It has a flat body that can squeeze through the tiniest crack. But you don't find a kissing bug by kicking over rocks. You find it in tight, warm spaces, between your mattress and box spring or bed frame.  Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a tropical parasitic disease caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. It is spread mostly by insects known as Triatominae or kissing bugs. The symptoms change over the course of the infection.  There are several ways Chagas disease is spread. The most common way is through the bite of a family of blood-sucking insects called triatomes. They're better known as kissing bugs, assassin bugs, cone-nosed bugs, and reduviid bugs. While most cases of Chagas disease are in Central and South America, 11 different species of the bugs live in the Southern U.S. They may be found as far north as Pennsylvania in the East and Northern California in the West. That's why they call them kissing bugs, because they'll go up on your face and kiss you on the mouth. said Richard The Bugman Fagerlund, an Entomologist. In Central America and Mexico they spread Chagas, a disease that can kill if it's not diagnosed and treated. If you have pack rats in your yard, and they're making a nest there, it's a possibility because the bugs will be in the nest and if they're close to the house then the kissing bugs, if it's cool out like now, then the kissing bugs will find a way and they'll go in.. Triatomine bugs (also called reduviid bugs, kissing bugs, assassin bugs, cone-nosed bugs, and blood suckers) can live indoors, in cracks and holes of substandard housing, or in a variety of outdoor settings including: 1  Beneath porches. 2  Between rocky structures. 3  Under cement. 4  In rock, wood, brush piles, or beneath bark.  Kissing Bug Illustration. Another common name for kissing bugs is conenose bugs. This name comes from the cone shape of their head. They are also called Triatomid bugs because most of them belong to the insect genus named Triatoma. There are several species of kissing bugs. Two of the most common are the bloodsucking conenose bug, Triatoma sanguisuga (LeConte), and the western bloodsucking conenose bug, Triatoma protracta (Uhler). These bugs can be 14 to 24 mm long. They are dark colored, usually brown or black. Over 300,000 Americans have already been infected with the potentially fatal 'kissing bug disease' called Chagas but U.S. healthcare workers lack of knowledge about the illness is letting many cases of the parasite unnoticed. Some doctors are calling it the 'new AIDS' because of the way it develops.  Kissing bugs are insects that may be infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite that causes Chagas disease. They are commonly known as cone-nose bugs or chinches. Kissing bugs feed on blood during the night, and they are called kissing bugs because they prefer to bite humans around the mouth or eyes. 
http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/Kissing-Bug-C-281859391.html http://kissingbug.tamu.edu/files/kissing-bug-brochure-130910.pdf http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/12795771/kissing-bug-not-as-friendly-as-name-implies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chagas_disease http://www.webmd.com/news/20120531/chagas-disease-faq http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/Kissing-Bug-C-281859391.html http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/chagas/gen_info/vectors/index.html http://www.orkin.com/other/kissing-bugs/ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2827116/Kissing-bug-disease-infected-300-000-people-don-t-know-parasite-referred-new-AIDS.html http://kissingbug.tamu.edu/FAQ/
why is it called a kissing bug