{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,14]],"date-time":"2026-06-14T23:01:43Z","timestamp":1781478103201,"version":"3.54.1"},"update-to":[{"DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0013568","type":"new_version","label":"New version","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,2]],"date-time":"2025-12-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1764633600000}}],"reference-count":52,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,14]],"date-time":"2025-11-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1763078400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000038","name":"Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["Alexander Graham Bell CGS D Doctoral Scholarship"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Alexander Graham Bell CGS D Doctoral Scholarship"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000038","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"name":"Entomological Society of British Columbia Graduate Student Scholarship"},{"name":"Philip & Marian McClelland Scholarship"},{"name":"Entomological Society of Canada Postgraduate Scholarship"},{"name":"NSERC - Discovery Grants"},{"name":"NSERC-Industrial Research Chair"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosntds.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS Negl Trop Dis"],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    The parasite\n                    <jats:italic>Trypanosoma cruzi<\/jats:italic>\n                    , transmitted by kissing bugs, causes Chagas disease in millions of people in Central and South America. Here we studied potential transmission of\n                    <jats:italic>T. cruzi<\/jats:italic>\n                    by common bed bugs,\n                    <jats:italic>Cimex lectularius<\/jats:italic>\n                    .\n                    <jats:italic>Trypanosoma cruzi<\/jats:italic>\n                    populations in bed bugs were monitored after oral ingestion or intrathoracic injection, with parasite presence in tissues and excreta analyzed microscopically. Natural feeding and defecation behaviors were also observed. After bed bugs ingested\n                    <jats:italic>T. cruzi<\/jats:italic>\n                    -infected blood, the\n                    <jats:italic>T. cruzi<\/jats:italic>\n                    population in their anterior midgut steadily declined during days 1\u20137 but increased in their posterior midgut\/hindgut and in their feces during days 4\u20137 and 7\u201310, respectively. No live or dead\n                    <jats:italic>T. cruzi<\/jats:italic>\n                    were observed in the bed bugs\u2019 proboscis, salivary glands, and hemolymph, suggesting they did not breach the midgut. When bed bugs were injected intrathoracically with\n                    <jats:italic>T. cruzi<\/jats:italic>\n                    at a low concentration (10\n                    <jats:sup>3<\/jats:sup>\n                    parasites\/mL), no parasites were found in the hemocoel, but some were found up to one week after injection with a higher concentration (10\n                    <jats:sup>6<\/jats:sup>\n                    parasites\/mL). As\n                    <jats:italic>T. cruzi<\/jats:italic>\n                    was absent from the salivary glands of bed bugs, oral transmission during feeding is highly unlikely. As bed bugs did not defecate while feeding and invariably defecated away from their feeding site, transmission of\n                    <jats:italic>T. cruzi<\/jats:italic>\n                    via bed bug feces \u2013 in a mode similar to kissing bugs \u2013 is also unlikely. Human consumption of food contaminated with infected bed bugs is a possible, but untested, mode of transmission.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0013568","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,14]],"date-time":"2025-11-14T18:46:06Z","timestamp":1763145966000},"page":"e0013568","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pntd.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Fate of Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease, in bed bugs after oral ingestion or intrathoracic injection"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"19","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6054-5553","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Sanam","family":"Meraj","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Phillip","family":"Phung","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Regine","family":"Gries","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Carl","family":"Lowenberger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gerhard","family":"Gries","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,14]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"pntd.0013568.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.5334\/gh.484","article-title":"WHF IASC roadmap on Chagas disease","volume":"15","author":"LE Echeverr\u00eda","year":"2020","journal-title":"Glob Heart"},{"key":"pntd.0013568.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/S0065-308X(05)61001-9","article-title":"Control of human parasitic diseases: context and overview","volume":"61","author":"DH Molyneux","year":"2006","journal-title":"Adv Parasitol"},{"issue":"12","key":"pntd.0013568.ref003","article-title":"Chagas cardiomyopathy: an update of current clinical knowledge and management: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association","volume":"138","author":"MCP Nunes","year":"2018","journal-title":"Circulation"},{"issue":"8","key":"pntd.0013568.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.ppat.1003462","article-title":"Bed bugs and infectious disease: a case for the arboviruses","volume":"9","author":"ZN Adelman","year":"2013","journal-title":"PLoS Pathog"},{"key":"pntd.0013568.ref005","unstructured":"Organization WH. 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