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Both kissing bugs and assassin bugs are both true bugs in the family Reduviidae, but they are not the same thing. Kissing bugs that can spread Chagas are not common outside the extreme southern portion of the US.

By the way, not only are ticks not bugs, they aren't even insects, they are arachnids. Many insecticides have no effect on them.

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They're unfortunately becoming common in the upper regions of Texas. At least I can verify Austin, TX has had quite a few. Thankfully pesticides take care of these not so little critters.

Thanks for the peace of mind. I've seen many assassin bugs in my apartment in the Seattle area and sometimes worry that one of us might have been bitten by them and have Chagas. I guess we're safe in this area.

Here is a map of the states where the kissing bugs that vector Chagas disease have been been reported in the US.

http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/chagas/gen_info/vectors/

This doesn't mean the bugs are common in these states, or even when bugs are present, that they have the parasite responsible for Chagas.

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