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Article: Blood-sucking insects invade the US.
- Article from:
- Chemistry and Industry
- Article date:
- April 17, 2000
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Society of Chemical Industry. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Alex Crawford and Claire Curran report on highlights from the American Chemical Society's meeting in San Francisco
Over 300,000 people in the United States are infected with Chagas' Disease, transmitted by a blood-sucking insect brought in by immigrants from Latin America.
This epidemic was reported at the American Chemical Society Women Chemists Committee luncheon last month by chemist Ann Walker of the University of Arizona. It was no place for those with sensitive constitutions as she described how the 'kissing bug', Rhodnius prolixus, feeds. It does so only once a month by injecting a heme protein, nitrophorin, as it bites its victim to suck blood. ...