Latin American diseases: Over 300,000 Americans have already been infected with the potentially fatal kissing bug disease called Chagas but U.S. health-care workers lack of knowledge about the illness is letting many cases of the parasite go unnoticed

Some doctors are calling it the new AIDS because of its asymptomatic beginnings that can turn to a fatal end if the disease progresses. Researchers who gathered at the annual American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene meeting in New Orleans said that if caught early the disease can be cured however sometimes the disease can be asymptomatic and there is a dearth in medication for the condition. The CDC reports that the initial symptoms of the disease - caused by a parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, which is spread through the feces of kissing bugs - includes fever, fatigue, body aches, rash, diarrhea and vomiting. One of the first visual signs can be a skin lesion or a purplish swelling of the lid of one eye. The disease can develop in the body causing eventual heart failure and other deadly complications that by the time they are realized cannot be helped with medicine. The CDC has said that they believe most of the people infected with Chagas got the parasite in Mexico or South America before coming to the United States.