How a Kissing Bug Becomes a Balloon Full of Your Blood | Deep Look

A kissing bug gorges on your blood. Then it poops on you. And that poop might contain the parasite that causes Chagas disease, which can be deadly. Without knowing it, millions of people have gotten the parasite in Latin America, where these insects live in many rural homes. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the saliva of some kissing bugs in the U.S. can give you a dangerous allergic reaction. SUBSCRIBE to Deep Look! Please join our community on Patreon! DEEP LOOK is an ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small. Kissing bugs live in the Americas, where around 130 species feed on humans, wild animals like wood rats, and on dogs, chickens and pigs. In Latin America, five species of kissing bugs are largely responsible for infecting around 6 millio