Doctors are speaking out to warn that a parasitic disease that can cause strokes and heart failure is spreading across the United States like wildfire.

Known as Chagas disease, this illness is spread by “kissing bugs,” insects that earned their name because they tend to bite people’s faces close to their mouths. Most people show no symptoms when they are infected with this disease, which is why it has become known as the “silent killer.”

Though the disease has mostly been limited to Central and South America in the past, it has reached the U.S. and infected 300,000 Americans.

American Heart Association released a statement warning that this could turn into a devastating outbreak if doctors do not become better at recognizing, diagnosing, and treating Chagas disease.

“Early detection of Chagas disease is critical, allowing prompt initiation of therapy when the evidence for cure is strong,” explained co-author Dr Caryn Bern, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California in San Francisco.

There are two phases of the disease: the acute phase and the chronic phase. The acute phase lasts for the first few weeks or months after infection, and symptoms of this phase can include  fever, headache, fatigue, rash, or swelling near the bite wound. Once the disease reaches the chronic phase, parasites have entered the heart muscles and the digestive muscles. At this point, around 30 percent of sufferers will develop an enlarged heart, arrhythmias, or an enlarged esophagus and colon.

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