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Growing up, Daisy Hernández was told that her aunt had become ill from eating a bad apple. She watched as her aunt became sicker and sicker, and didn’t learn until years later that she was living with Chagas disease. It affects around 8 million people, mostly across the Americas, and yet many of us have never heard of it.
Hernandez’s book, The Kissing Bug, is SciFri’s first book club pick of the year. Host Flora Lichtman speaks with Hernández about her book, the story of her aunt who died of Chagas, and how a disease that affects so many people can be so neglected.
Chagas Disease Resources in English & Spanish
- Chagas Disease / Enfermedad de Chagas via PAHO
- Chagas Disease / Enfermedad de Chagas via Mayo Clinic
- VIDEOS about Chagas in English and Spanish via DNDi
- VIDEO: Transmisión congénita de la enfermedad de Chagas via via PAHO
- Kissing Bug Community Science Program at Texas A&M
Programa de ciencia comuniaria de chinches malas & la enfermedad de Chagas de Texas A&M - Chinches besuconas transmiten el mal de Chagas en el sur de California via La Opinión
- América Latina combate el auge de la transmisión del chagas de madre a hijo via El País
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Segment Guests
Daisy Hernández
Daisy Hernández is a journalist and the author of The Kissing Bug: A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation’s Neglect of a Deadly Disease. She’s based in Chicago.
Segment Transcript
The transcript is being processed. It will be available 2-3 days after this story’s publication date.
Meet the Producers and Host
About Flora Lichtman
Flora Lichtman is a host of Science Friday. In a previous life, she lived on a research ship where apertivi were served on the top deck, hoisted there via pulley by the ship’s chef.
About Rasha Aridi
Rasha Aridi is a producer for Science Friday and the inaugural Outrider/Burroughs Wellcome Fund Fellow. She loves stories about weird critters, science adventures, and the intersection of science and history.