Problems caused by Cockroaches
It’s funny that although cockroaches only inhabit about 1/3 of continental North America in any great number, they are the most commonly cited pest in our pop culture. Part of the reason for the popularity of cockroaches when it comes to pestilential discussion is just the sheer physical reaction that people seem to have to these insects; we will get into that in a little bit. Just keep in mind as you are reading this that although cockroaches are by far one of the most hardy insect pests on the entire planet, you are unlikely to encounter them in any great numbers wherever the temperature dips below five degrees Celsius on a regular basis. If you do live in warmer areas (and the German cockroach can be found even in colder parts of the continent although with proper control and the aid of the mercury they usually don’t become a big problem) , here are some of the problems that are associated with large numbers of cockroaches.
General case of the jitters
Probably the most common problem with cockroaches is that they give people that creepy feeling along the spine. They are not beautiful creatures and some people find them downright scary, and the larger the species, the worse the reaction. Cockroaches in places that make their living off of hospitality can often mean plummeting business, although these insects don’t bite, aren’t aggressive, and pose no great threat unless you are likely to be eating food where they have been.
Cockroaches and food
Food sources, of course, are the main contributor to human/cockroach interaction. Cockroaches will make a meal of just about anything, even commercial pesticides which are supposed to kill them! The result is that they can be found crawling around in lazy susans, in pantries, and especially in cellars. You can hear them when you turn on the lights, and the feeling of a cockroach skittering away over your foot is hard to bear for most people.
Even harder is finding the corpse of a cockroach in a food or drinking source. Most people probably aren’t so thrifty as to save food once they find a dead bug in it, and in areas where cockroaches grow to large numbers in terms of population (and if you see them in daytime, then you have a large population), this can mean a lot of food gets thrown out and a lot of money wasted. Moreover, it won’t fix the problem, since the living cockroaches can all get into the garbage as well.
The human reaction to cockroaches in food sources is probably instinctual, because like house flies cockroaches can carry a number of different bacteria which are commonly found on food. Cockroaches crawling over, or dying in, one food source after coming from another may be carrying salmonella, E. Coli, or other food borne illnesses on their legs and tracking the bacteria all over your house.
Cockroaches and asthma
Interestingly, cockroaches carry a number of allergens on them, and it seems as though children with sensitivities to these allergens are more likely to have asthmatic reactions where cockroaches are found in large numbers.
While cockroaches do pose some health risks to some individuals and may carry food borne diseases, they are not as risky to humans as other, larger pests known to frequent our living areas. Still, the creep out factor alone is enough for most people to consider cockroaches a species worth getting rid of; just don’t try it using commercial insecticides, because the odds are they will not work!
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