The bed bug has been a source of rather harmless irritation, as their bites have left the skins of many victims itchy.

However, the once disease-free bed bug bites have been found to be potentially dangerous as bed bugs can transmit Trypanosoma Cruzi, the parasite that causes Chagas disease, one of the most prevalent and deadly diseases, according to the media outlet Bioscience Technology.

For the study, which is published online in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, senior author Michael Z. Levy, PhD, assistant professor in the department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, and researchers at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Peru reportedly conducted a series of laboratory experiments that demonstrated bi-directional transmission of T. cruz between mice and bed bugs.

The first experiment was reportedly conducted by exposing 10 mice infected with the parasite to 20 uninfected bed bugs every three days for a month. Of about 2,000 bed bugs used in the experiment, the majority reportedly acquired T. cruzi after feeding on the mice. The second experiment reportedly found that 9 out of 12 uninfected mice acquired the parasite after each one lived for 30 days with 20 infected bed bugs.

The last experiment reportedly showed that simply placing the feces of infected bed bugs on the animal's skin could transmit the disease to four out of 10 mice.

"We've shown that the bed bug can acquire and transmit the parasite. Our next step is to determine whether they are, or will become, an important player in the epidemiology of Chagas disease," stated Levy, according to WebMD.

He continued, "There are some reasons to worry - bed bugs have more frequent contact with people than kissing bugs, and there are more of them in infested houses, giving them ample opportunity to transmit the parasite. But perhaps there is something important we don't yet understand about them that mitigates the threat."