10 Bugs That Will Ruin Your Summer Vacation (PHOTOS)

Last year, some friends asked me to come spend a week with them at their new home in Mexico. "There's just one thing," they told me. "We don't have any furniture in the guest room yet, so you'll be on an air mattress. You don't mind, do you?"

I did mind. I minded very much. I thought immediately of the Congo floor maggot, which feeds upon people sleeping on mats in their huts; it has been a huge advance in public health to get people there to stop sleeping on the ground. Now, I was going to a nice resort town in Mexico, not sub-Saharan Africa, but that didn't matter. If I slept on the ground, I was sure it would be that much easier for some blood-sucking monster in miniature to find me.

But I want to be the sort of charming and entertaining guest who gets invited to vacation homes in exotic locations, not the sort who raises alarms about maggots and parasites before the plane lands.

The air mattress was fine. But you know what wasn't fine? The blood-sucking assassin bugs walking through the living room while I drank my coffee every morning--the very insect that transmits Chagas disease, the ailment that might have killed Charles Darwin.

Okay, so I'm not much fun on vacation anymore. You've probably already decided not to invite me to your villa in Costa Rica or your condo in Hawaii. Nonetheless, here are the insects, spiders, and other horrors, featured in my book "Wicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon's Army & Other Diabolical Insects," you should most fear on your summer vacation:

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Assassin bug

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Triatoma infestans Look out for it in: Mexico, Central and South America Why you should fear it: Assassin bugs transmit Chagas disease, a long-term, chronic disease that can ultimately cause serious cardiac and digestive problems. Notorious victim: Charles Darwin met one on his first trip to Argentina.

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Triatoma infestans

Look out for it in: Mexico, Central and South America

Why you should fear it: Assassin bugs transmit Chagas disease, a long-term, chronic disease that can ultimately cause serious cardiac and digestive problems.

Notorious victim: Charles Darwin met one on his first trip to Argentina.

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Total comments: 239 | Post a Comment

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This Bug

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Not so terrifying YIKES!

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Comments

[Les Hildebrand]

10:19 PM on 07/17/2011

Yeah ic they missed my favorite bug Scabies hehehehe

[MissFrijole]

09:15 AM on 05/31/2011

For thousands of years, humans have lived among wild animals and insects of all kinds. What difference is there about it today? Have we gotten so sensitive to nature? Personally, I find insects disgusting and I hate having them in my house, but that comes with living in certain areas of the country. You just have to deal with it.

[pflickner]

10:37 AM on 05/26/2011

Wrong on the bed bugs - they've now been found to carry super-bugs (no pun intended).

[Caseybug]

03:42 PM on 05/23/2011

Bar flies, they carry all sorts of diseases.

[DrJohnnySkeptic]

01:02 PM on 05/23/2011

A friend of mine thought he had bed bugs for years because he felt like things were crawling on his skin. It turned out it was something else, but I'm not going to go there. It's too gross.

[rb4028]

11:44 PM on 05/21/2011

Well, they found that bed bugs DO carry a major disease factor now. = MRSA

[MissFrijole]

09:11 AM on 05/31/2011

It hasn't been proven yet. They suspect that the patients found who had MRSA may have had their blood consumed by the bedbugs after contracting the disease.

[Sheldon archer]

09:33 PM on 05/21/2011

"All creatures great and small, the good Lord made them all." ...Thanks a whole bunch.

[Itsasmallworld]

07:28 PM on 05/21/2011

Black widows? We have them all over the place here in Southern California. Especially around the pool. I was bitten by one a couple of summers ago. I was sick for three days, could barely walk and had pains in my joints that were as bad as child birth. I just got a brown recluse hanging out by one of the patio chairs today. They deserve a mention too.

[Shirley Newland Schmoock]

11:00 AM on 05/21/2011

Fascinating photos - my daughter has Chagas - wonder where she got it? Great job on this piece, but I'm throwing OUT my air mattress and let my grandkids sleep with me when they visit;-)

[Lucinda1]

11:29 AM on 05/20/2011

Thanks. Appreciate the correction!

[ZenCrusader]

07:55 AM on 05/20/2011

The scorpions in Costa Rica will bite but will not kill you - it hurts like a bee sting but within 3-5 hours the pain goes away. I live in CR and have never seen any of these other bugs except of course fleas bcuz we have a dog. What is more similar but more dangerous than fleas is what is locally called
" garapata " that can infect the blood of a dog or a person and make them very sick and can be fatal if not treated. I'm less squeemish now about bugs and stuff having killed hundreds of scorpions here but I still hate snakes and spiders. yuk.

[Beefylog]

02:41 AM on 05/20/2011

Bot flies are more horrifying than several of the insects on the list.

[pleasantlyvague]

08:54 PM on 05/27/2011

Totally agree. I had to deal with them while working on a horse farm for several years. Disgusting!

[LE PHILANTROPE AVERTI]

02:22 AM on 05/20/2011

Some extremely much more dangerous bugs:

Netanyahu and Lieberman and Zionism
Kaddafi and mental disturbance
Assad, Najad, Malki and the Iranian led syndrome
What do they have in common?
They are located in the Middle East
They suck the blood of their victims and refuse any moral principle when it comes to their enemies
They are a shame to human kind

[Guillermo Rodriguez]

03:10 PM on 05/21/2011

Gee, don't you love how some people feel the need to politicize threads that have nothing at all to do with politics? This is a thread about insects and the like, for crying out loud. Mid East politics is a total non-sequitur.

[Constantone]

02:12 AM on 05/20/2011

WTH?! "Overuse of toxic chems drove bedbugs away for a while, but we're wiser now - no biggie; suck it up."
Please tell me you fired the unpaid intern that wrote this.

[Demarcus Jackson]

01:55 AM on 05/20/2011

Wicked awesome.

[unopeneddoors]

02:22 AM on 05/20/2011

Can't believe brown recluse didn't make this list! Definitely something you don't wanna get bitten by!

[Demarcus Jackson]

02:35 AM on 05/20/2011

Yeah, that is hard to believe.