Researchers find kissing bugs in Nebraska, warn of health risks by: Hanna Christensen, Nebraska News Service - Jul. 11, 2021 State News Nebraska researchers found kissing bugs in Richardson County last summer, and want residents to be aware of the health risks they pose. University of Nebraska-Lincoln Insect Diagnostician Kyle Koch said if the bugs exist outside of Richardson County, they are likely uncommon. He said if the bugs spread into other areas of Nebraska, it will likely be a slow and limited process. “There’s no evidence to really suggest that it’s necessarily new here, it’s probably been in very southeastern Nebraska for a while but went sort of undetected for quite a while,” he said. “As you go further north, you get these more presumably isolated populations that aren’t as large and so easier to go undetected.”