Mosquitos Spread New Infection Similar to HIV

As summer gets closer and nights get warmer, more folks are spending time outside. But one thing we always have to worry about while we’re relaxing outdoors is mosquitoes. They don’t just cause itchy red bumps if they bite you, they can also spread serious diseases.

A new infection these insects carry is even being called “The New AIDS of the Americas.”

Chagas disease is transmitted to humans by blood-sucking insects, like mosquitoes. Tropical disease experts say the spread of Chagas towards the U.S. is similar to the spread of HIV.

Just like the AIDS virus, Chagas disease has a long incubation time and is hard or almost impossible to cure. It infects up to eight million people mostly in Bolivia, Mexico, Colombia, and Central America. But more than 3,000 of those people who are infected live in the U.S. with most of them being immigrants.