Here is another “Fact in Fiction” I use in the Legends of the Winged Scarab series:
The Kissing Bug, Chagas Disease.
In the U.S., over 300,000 people live with it (mostly Hispanics from Latin America). Over 8 million people in Mexico, Central America and South America have it. The disease comes from the bite of a triatomine bug; it carries a parasite which can ultimately destroy the digestive system and heart. Worldwide, the disease kills tens of thousands a year.
In Book 3 “After the Cataclysm,” Lorenzo Dominguez, our billionaire art thief/pirate/kidnapper caught Chagas disease as a boy in the abject squalor of the Venezuelan prison on Isla Margarita.
In Book 5 “The Nile Conspiracy,” Lorenzo's predestined fate catches up with him (at a rather opportune time for our protagonists).
