Triatoma infestans

Triatoma infestans, commonly called winchuka (vinchuca) in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, barbeiro in Brazil and also known as "kissing bug" or "barber bug" in English, is a blood-sucking bug (like all the members of its subfamily Triatominae) and the most important vector of Trypanosoma cruzi which can lead to Chagas disease. It is widespread in the Southern Cone countries of South America; that is, in Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Brazil and Peru. In all these countries T. infestans is almost an exclusively domestic species, except in Bolivia where sylvatic forms have been recorded in rock piles in association with wild guinea pigs. This region has joined the control intervention called Southern Cone Initiative managed by the PAHO.