Chagas, a life-threatening disease spread by parasitic bugs is being dubbed the “new AIDS of the Americas” by researchers because its initial symptoms are hard to detect. The life-threatening parasite is transmitted by biting beetles, and can cause a person’s heart and intestines to swell and burst. According to a lengthy editorial in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Chagas disease is slowly — and surreptitiously — spreading to the U.S. from Latin America. 

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