A review by booksaremypeople
The Kissing Bug: A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation's Neglect of a Deadly Disease by Daisy Hernández

4.0

Tia Dora, the author’s aunt, is sick with Chagas, a parasitic disease. Transmitted to humans by kissing bugs. Medication can help, but the problem is the fact that few people are diagnosed, which means few people receive treatment. The parasite can live inside their human hosts for up to thirty years as they disrupt the electric currents of the heart, leaving behind basically these tiny eaten holes in the heart tissue. It sounds terrible. And it became known as the Kissing Bug Disease, which is a cute name for a terrible disease. Since the Daisy Hernandez’s aunt had this disease, she’s close to it and the book looks at her aunt’s experience as well as the history of the disease. six million people are living with chagas, about 300,00 in the United States and they are primarily immigrants from South American, Central America and Mexico and more than 10,000 people die annually from this disease. I learned a lot about Kissing bugs and parasites and many of the ignored scientists who uncovered so much information about this disease. It was interesting to focus just on one disease in particular and understand how socio-economic status really is responsible for what illnesses governments choose to invent in and what groups of people they choose to protect or neglect. And the author has really done her research here. For more book reviews, listen to BOOKS ARE MY PEOPLE, my book recommendation podcast for book lovers.