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On July 2, two friends made a harmless walk to Danville – she became deadly.
Karen Hudgins and Evelyn Wooten were walking along the Riverwalk Trail that morning when an insect had bitten Wooten.
"We were walking and she said:" Karen, take off this virus from me, "Hudgins remembered.
Hudgins slapped what she thought was a horse fly from her friend's shoulder.
About 10 minutes later, they were heading for the Dan crossing when Wooten began to have problems.
"She said:" Karen, I can not breathe, "said Hudgins. "I looked back in. She looked really pale, she was struggling very hard to breathe."
"I need to sit down," Evelyn Wooten, 77, told her, before collapsing.
"She just retired," Hudgins said. "The last thing she said was:" 911. "She started to swell and turn blue, her lips, her arms, everything."
Suddenly, remembers Hudgins, her neighbor of more than 20 years has stopped breathing. They lived at Arnett Apartments, near Sherwood Shopping Center, and had been walking together on the Riverwalk Trail since 2003.
Evelyn Wooten was placed in intensive care and resuscitation. She was declared brain dead the next day, July 3rd.
The hospital confirmed that an insect had caused a virus and had an allergic reaction, said his son, Mark Wooten.
"It was very unexpected," he said.
Evelyn Wooten has been described as a very warm and caring person who loved her family a lot and lived in the service of others.
"She would give you the shirt," said Mark Wooten, 58, who lives in Bridgewater. "She has never done any enemy."
Hudgins, after browsing images on the Internet, said that she thought she knew what had killed Wooten – Triatoma sanguisuga, also known as the kiss virus.
"In my mind, that's probably what it was," said 75-year-old Hudgins.
The insects are found in the southern United States, Mexico, Central America and South America, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Eleven different species have been found in the southern United States, according to the CDC.
The saliva of the insect can cause an allergic reaction that may include severe redness, itching, swelling, nausea, hives or, in rare cases, anaphylactic shock, according to the website. CDC.
Hudgins recalled her friend's fun on the morning of her fatal walk at the Riverwalk trial.
"That morning, when she got in the car, she said that she was feeling so good," Hudgins said, adding that they spoke to each other four or five times a day.
Evelyn Wooten worked for the Dan River Inc. textile and fabric finishing company until her retirement. She has also worked for Food Lion at Ballou Park and Tightsqueeze in Pittsylvania County.
She and her husband left Heller, Kentucky, for the Dan River area in 1960, just after their marriage.
Her hobbies included reading and walking with Hudgins. They also played cards together.
"She would call Karen" the hostess with the greatest number, "recalls Mark Wooten.
She and Hudgins were breast cancer survivors.
"They formed a very strong connection with that," Mark said.
As for the bacteria that kisses, it can spread Chagas disease by releasing the pathogen into its excrement, near the site of the bite. Humans can be infected by scratching the bite and rubbing the pathogen against the wound, mouth, nose or eyes, according to the Virginia Department of Health website.
Symptoms of Chagas disease include fever; swelling around the bite; in acute cases, severe inflammation of the heart muscle or brain and mucous membranes around the brain.
Complications of chronic Chagas disease include abnormal heart rhythms that can cause sudden death; an enlarged heart that does not pump blood well; and an enlarged esophagus or colon, causing difficulty eating or stooling, according to the Virginia Department of Health.
The symptoms may appear a few days after infection and last for a few weeks or months.
According to the CDC, kissing insects may live indoors, in cracks and holes in substandard housing or in various outdoor environments.
Common places for them include the lower porches; between rock structures; under cement; in rock, wood, heaps of undergrowth or under bark; in rodent nests or burrows; in niches or outside kennels, and in hen houses or houses.
Crane reports for the registry and the bee. He can be reached at (434) 791-7987.
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