Cockroach Health Concerns

Cockroach Health Concerns

A home with a large roach population often has a smell of its own. Roaches give off oily secretions with a strong, musty odor, and it can cling to dishes that look clean, to stored food and even to clothing. Their droppings, which look like dark specks, tiny pellets or inky smears, add to it.

Roaches are also a major source of indoor allergens. Proteins in their droppings, saliva, shed skins and broken body parts mix into household dust. For sensitive people, that dust can cause sneezing, itchy skin and rashes, and it can set off asthma attacks that are sometimes severe.

They feed on cardboard, book bindings, paper products and food packaging, and they leave droppings wherever they feed. Over time that means a steady layer of contamination in cabinets, drawers and pantries, even in homes that are cleaned often.

Putting Cockroach Health Risks in Perspective

Not every roach sighting carries the same risk. In Florida, the species most tied to indoor health problems is the German cockroach, a small tan roach with two dark stripes behind the head that lives and breeds indoors, mostly in kitchens and bathrooms. A large American or smokybrown cockroach, often called a palmetto bug, that wanders in from outside after rain is mainly a nuisance, though any roach can track dirt onto surfaces.

How contamination happens: roaches travel through drains, garbage and wall voids, then cross counters, dishes and food at night. They can carry bacteria such as Salmonella and E. coli on their legs and bodies and in their droppings. They are generally considered a contamination and allergy concern rather than a major direct cause of disease outbreaks.

Practical steps at home:

• Throw out food from opened packages roaches could have reached, and keep food in sealed, hard containers.
• Rinse dishes and utensils that sat out overnight before using them.
• Wipe counters before preparing food.
• Keep cleaning after the roaches are gone. Dead roaches, droppings and shed skins still carry allergens.

When to see a doctor: if someone in the home has asthma that seems worse indoors, coughs or wheezes at night, or has a constant stuffy nose and itchy eyes at home, ask about allergy testing. Cockroach allergy is a well-documented asthma trigger, especially in children. Getting roaches out is covered on how to get rid of cockroaches.