A new screening strategy devised by a team of U.S. researchers could make the detection and treatment of Chagas disease easier in poorer countries, according to a new study.

Chagas disease, also called American trypanosomiasis, is a deadly parasite-borne disease transmitted to humans by a blood-sucking insect. Called an assassin bug, the insect infects people by carrying a single-cell protozoan parasite called Trypanosoma cruzi.

The parasitic disease occurs in the Americas, especially in South America. Some 11 million people are affected.

Until now, the main method of fighting the disease has been to focus on the extermination of the insect that carries the parasite. However, a team of U. S. researchers may have come up with a new stratagem, Reuters reports.

Their strategy is based on the collection of data on the number of insects found in homes during spraying campaigns, thus identifying clusters of at-risk children who should be tested for Chagas disease.

Health officials would have better chances at targeting the disease, treating those infected and preventing its spread.

Michael Levy, a disease ecologist at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and lead author, was quoted by Reuters as saying: “The exterminators are really telling us what kids need to be tested. It is very easy to add on to existing programs.”

A person may also become infected by ingesting food that is contaminated with the parasites, through blood transfusion or through fetal transmission.

According to Levy, people can live with the condition for years before symptoms occur.

Symptoms of Chagas disease noted by the patient can include fever, fatigue, headache, rash, loss of appetite, diarrhea, and vomiting, according to the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The disease can be fatal in young children and people with a weakened immune system, the CDC says.

Levy and his team conducted tests on several hundred children in a poor neighborhood in the southern Peruvian city of Arequipa; they first tested children who lived in homes where exterminators reported finding a considerable number of bugs and then tested everybody within a 20-meter (65.5 ft) range, per Reuters.

They found that the disease appeared to be present in people living in tight clusters.

Detection proved to be better targeted and did not require significant costs, the researchers said.

The study was published on Dec. 26 in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.