Is your house a roach motel?

Article by healthybalance.com staff
Posted on August 24, 2008

If you’re at a restaurant and chance to see a cockroach stroll by, should you drop your fork and run? Maybe so. While cockroaches are not associated with any one infectious disease, they have been known to harbor many different germs and viruses on their sticky little feet. In addition, their droppings can provoke asthma attacks.

Cockroaches certainly carry disease organisms and filth from place to place—and it’s their leavings that trigger asthma attacks. But while there is suggestive evidence, cockroaches have not been proved guilty of causing disease outbreaks from the germs they scurry around with.

A 1911 study published in The Journal of Public Health stated that cockroaches’ bodies harbored staphylococcus, streptococcus and pneumococcus germs. Since then, researchers have identified as many as 50 different pathogens carried by cockroaches. But unlike mosquitoes that carry malaria or West Nile virus, fleas that carry the plague or ticks that transmit Lyme’s disease, cockroaches do not have a link to any specific disease.

That doesn’t mean sharing your home with cockroaches is without disease risks. When cockroaches crawl through germs and then crawl on food or surfaces you touch, those germs can easily be transmitted to household members of the human persuasion. Outbreaks of illnesses in homes infested with cockroaches have provided strong anecdotal proof that these nasty bugs do indeed spread disease.

Why do cockroaches come calling?
To enjoy a good meal and a drink of water. If you don’t want your home to be a roach motel, remove as many food and water sources as you can find. For example:
• Never leave open food or dirty dishes on counters or in sinks.
• Wipe down counter and tabletops, vacuum carpets and sweep floors to get rid of every last crumb.
• Take garbage containing food outdoors to the trash can every night. Tie garbage pail liners shut with twist ties during the day,
• When your pets are done eating, package and refrigerate remaining food and clean their dishes.
• Don’t forget the toaster, countertop grill and microwave! Small bits of food left in these appliances can prove a tasty treat for a cockroach.
• Sweep floors, clean drawers and wipe down shelves where crumbs of food may have fallen.

You can also take steps to keep cockroaches out:
• Seal gaps around plumbing, window screens, wall outlets and switch plates with caulk.
• Keep doors and windows closed and screened.
• Run the water in spare bathrooms, utility tubs and toilets to keep the drain trap filled and cockroaches out.
• Place screening over roof vent pipes on the roof.
• When anyone brings items into your home in boxes or bags, check to make sure they are not harboring cockroaches.
Roach traps, placed safely away from children and pets, are an effective way to control roaches without exposing the whole family to pesticides. If cockroaches have overrun your home, you may need to enlist an exterminator. Do your research ahead of time so you know what pesticides will be used and how you can best minimize any bad effects on your family’s and your pets’ health.