Conenose or ‘kissing bugs' (Triatoma spp.) have received a good deal of press from CBS Sacramento and other media outlets in recent weeks. Although not a new insect to California or the U.S., we thought readers might benefit from some guidance and information on these bugs in case one should encounter these seldom seen insects.

Conenose bugs can vector a protozoan, Trypanosoma cruzi, that causes Chagas disease in humans. While conenose bugs do bite humans, the protozoan is transmitted via the bug's feces, rather than through bites.

Conenose bugs are in the...