Another Emerging Disease?

From Loyola University today we read about first human case of insect-transmitted Chagas parasite in Louisiana and sixth ever in the United States. The discovery was made in July 2006 in a rural area of New Orleans. There is an endemic cycle in wild animals in Louisiana (approximately 30 – 40 percent of armadillos and opossums are infected with the Chagas parasite), this is the first report of infection in a human with the Chagas parasite by an insect in Louisiana.