Cockroaches – How unhealthy are they to have in your home?

How Dangerous are Cockroaches?

Some insects get a bad rap. While they might look frightening or creepy, they are relatively harmless. If you think about it, you can probably easily identify bugs that you think of as a nuisance, but that really do not do anything bad to you. Some cockroach aficionados want to pretend like cockroaches fall into that category. However, the reality is that cockroaches are one of the nastiest, most dangerous insects out there to have in your home.

Even though cockroaches do not bite or sting, they are very dangerous. They are notoriously linked to disease. Plus, they often infest food supplies, making it even easier to spread those diseases. They can carry Campylobacteriosis, Salmonella, Listeriosis, E. Coli, Dysentery, and Cholera. They can easily spread those diseases to humans.

Cockroaches are very invasive. They eat all types of things. You know that they go after food scraps, but they also eat feces and other dead insects. Once they have eaten their fill, they go back to the nest. In the nest, cockroaches get even more disgusting. They vomit and excrete food sources, roll around in it, and eat it again. That is one of the reasons that they are so effective at spreading diseases.

In addition to spreading disease, cockroaches can also trigger your allergies. People can be allergic to cockroach saliva, feces, and discarded skin. The unfortunate can be allergic to all three! So, if you have cockroaches in your home, you can experience severe allergic reactions, even if you do not get ill from the diseases that they carry. Depending on how sensitive you are, these allergies can cause mild allergic reactions all the way to severe allergy attacks.

For cockroaches, prevention is key. Eliminate their food sources and you can reduce the attraction for roaches. So, seal all food in airtight containers. Clean your kitchen after every meal. Restrict dining to a few rooms in your home. Clean dishes every night. Remove food scraps from other surfaces, such as your floors.

However, even the cleanest homes can get cockroaches. That is where pest control becomes important. Contact Flick today. We can schedule a consultation and begin a prevention program.