When it comes to household pests, cockroaches might be at the very top of the list. They can cause physical damage to your home, most people find them psychologically disturbing, and cockroaches can absolutely spread disease as they travel throughout your home. Cockroaches have also been linked to asthma and allergies, making these pests seriously harmful.

Cockroaches Can Spread Disease

Cockroaches are excellent carriers of disease, because they frequent the dirtiest parts of your home. They can spread e. Coli, salmonella, and other bacteria, carrying pathogens on their feet and bodies. Cockroaches love garbage, humidity, and dark places–and they will do anything and everything to gain access to these spaces. Once they’ve picked up bacteria or viruses, they will travel throughout your home, finding more dark hiding places and potential food sources. Roaches can also spread disease through their droppings, shed skins, and vomit, making them a formidable health threat.

Here are the cockroaches most commonly found in Las Vegas:

Cockroach Allergies and Asthma

Cockroach exoskeletons have been known to cause a range of respiratory conditions in humans. It has been proven that cockroaches can trigger allergies in both children and adults, which can then result in asthma attacks. Scientists believe that somewhere between 23% and 60% of urban-dwelling asthmatics are also sensitive to the allergens of cockroaches. Making matters worse, the cockroach population in urban areas grows bigger every year.

How Do Cockroaches Cause Allergies?

Cockroaches can trigger allergies just like any other common allergy source like pollen, dust, or other animals. Allergies are caused by the body’s overreaction to foreign objects it deems harmful. For example, when people who are allergic inhale pollen, their bodies go into emergency mode, producing extra mucus and other symptoms. For cockroaches, a human body reacts to the creature’s saliva, feces, and exoskeleton. Cockroaches can shed these allergens around the clock, throughout your home.

Cockroaches cause a specific type of allergic reaction in some people that can cause asthma. These acute attacks occur after the victim breathes in cockroach allergens, and they can continue for hours. Over the past 30 years, incidents of cockroach-related asthma attacks have skyrocketed.

Basic Prevention for Cockroaches

The best way to get rid of these vermin is through extermination and then preventative measures. Sanitation is essential to keeping your home roach-free after extermination.

Eliminate Food Sources for Cockroaches: Roaches are attracted to fruits, vegetables, crumbs, and garbage.
Sweep, Mop, and Clean to Prevent Cockroaches.
Eliminate Hiding Places: Spend some time cleaning up cluttered piles of newspapers, cardboard boxes, or old grocery bags.
Sprays or Chemicals: Boric acid and roach traps help with getting rid of a cockroach infestation, but prevention is the best policy.

Professional Cockroach Extermination

It is very difficult to treat cockroaches with DIY methods. More often than not, these methods do nothing more than push the cockroaches further into your home, or if you live in an apartment, into someone else’s home.

Western Exterminator specializes in cockroach extermination and infestation prevention. If you suspect you have cockroaches, or you’re at risk for asthma or allergy attacks, we recommend contacting us for an inspection right away. Cockroaches can multiply very rapidly throughout a home, and small problems can become massive in just a few short months.