Live triatomine bug, vector of Trypanosoma cruzi , found engorged in Lisbon hotel room: A first for Portugal and for Europe

Thumbnail Image

Files

Primary Live triatomine bug, vector of Trypanosoma cruzi , found engorged in Lisbon hotel room A first for Portugal and for Europe.pdf (1.52 MB)

Date

2026-06-14

Authors

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Parasites & Vectors

Abstract

Triatomine bugs are blood feeding insects that transmit the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, causative agent of Chagas disease. The bugs are found primarily in the Americas with a few species in Asia and Africa. Here, we report the first case of a live triatomine bug in Europe, found in a Lisbon hotel room. In August 2025 the hotel room occupants discovered a triatomine bug perched on the headboard of their bed. Upon capture, bright red blood emerged from the bug; the occupants suspected that it had bitten them during the night. The bug was identified morphologically as triatomine species Hospesneotomae protracta, which was confirmed molecularly. Hospesneotomae protracta is native to the southwestern USA and northern Mexico, where it is a competent T. cruzi vector. Trypanosoma cruzi was not detected in this specimen. Although this case likely represents an accidental importation, it illustrates the ease with which disease vectors can be unknowingly transported globally. Ergo it is crucial to document and share these findings to prevent introductions of non-native arthropods of medical importance.

Description

© The Author(s) 2026. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons. org/licenses/ by/4. 0/.The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.. This article was originally published in Parasites & Vectors. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-026-07464-4

Keywords

Accidental vector importation, Vector hitchhiking, Hospesneotomae protracta, Triatoma protracta, Triatomine bugs, Trypanosoma cruzi, Europe, Portugal, Chagas disease

Citation

"Peterson, J. K., Kelley, A. R., Antoszewski, T., Brown, M., Cortes, H., Easton, P. I., Ferry, G., Freeman, T., Freiwald, C., Hagen, E., Kinnaird, H., Lewin, L., Lewis, M., McNulty, J., Moore, N., Mullis, E., Pettit, S., Schultz, L., Sharp, S., … de Oliveira, J. (2026). Live triatomine bug, vector of Trypanosoma cruzi , found engorged in Lisbon hotel room: A first for Portugal and for Europe. Parasites & Vectors, 19(1), 250. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-026-07464-4 "

URI

https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/37258

Collections

Open Access Publications

Endorsement

Review

Supplemented By

Referenced By

Creative Commons license

Attribution 4.0 United States
Except where otherwised noted, this item's license is described as Attribution 4.0 United States