Chronic Allergies? Cockroaches Should Be On the List of Culprits

If you’re a hunter kitty, that fast moving, flying American cockroach, known as a “palmetto bug,” or its smaller, particularly invasive German cousin sure looks like fun. But what you and I know that kitty does not is that cockroaches are not only not fun, they’re also not healthy.

In western North Carolina, allergens such as mold, mildew, or dust mites are often on our respiratory health radar. Cockroaches of any size, sort, color or description can also cause year-around breathing problems in your home. 

Whether they live and breed indoors, or flourish in moist humid shrubby areas, they are unsanitary house guests often implicated in the spread of diseases.

Throughout the United States, 63% of homes have cockroach allergens, according to the National Pest Management Association. In urban areas, that number rises to 78-98 percent. In other words, the majority of Americans are inhaling or ingesting dangerous enzymes in proteins that are specific to cockroaches. 

How could that be possible?

We don’t always see cockroaches, but once they’re in our homes, they leave their mess everywhere. They leave saliva where they eat. They leave feces where they defecate. They breed, mold, and shed body parts wherever they go. Normal household cleaning launches those particles into the air, where they can be inhaled. These minute allergens increase asthma flare-ups and compromise personal immune response.

Most experts agree that cockroaches are a trigger for increased health risk. In 2014, 8.6% of children and 7.4% of adults living with asthma, according to the Centers for Disease Control. 

Chronic Healthiness Threat Posed by Cockroaches

Several medical studies have identified a list of significant, chronic allergic responses that can be attributed to cockroach allergens. These threats to health and well-being include:

• Repetitive Sneezing
• Coughing
• Post-Nasal Drip
• Wheezing/Chronic Coughing
• Chronic Nasal Congestion
• Skin rash
• Ear or Sinus infections
• Tightness in the chest
• Itchy Eyes
• Sensitivity to light
• Chronic allergies (not seasonal)

If you or someone in your home is exhibiting the health conditions common to cockroach allergens,, consult an allergist, who can diagnose the allergy and recommend medications to stabilize the condition and protect your health. 

Combatting Healthiness Risk Caused by Cockroaches

Are you concerned that here in Beer City U.S.A., cockroaches may be having a house party when you’re not looking? 

Chances are, if you think you might have a cockroach infestation, then you do. Combatting the healthiness risk caused by cockroaches is crucial. Let’s get to the root of the problem.

Let’s eliminate the welcoming environment, the reason they sought you out. 

Let’s make them feel unwelcome!  Here’s how.

Don’t feed the roaches! 

1. Keep garbage, people food, and pet food containers sealed. 
2. Clean away pet food spills, and food crumbs from under, behind, places in the kitchen, pantry, and cabinets.
3. Clean away the greasy deposits at the stove’s vent, hood, and above the kitchen’s high cabinets.

Don’t attract them with dampness. 

1. Stop water leaks of pipes, fixtures, and drains.
2. Keep the soil around the foundation of the house dry.
3. Keep the crawl space and the basement dry.

Leave “Leaf” critters in the forest

1. *Remove those welcome mats of tree leaves that pile up against the house in the shrub beds and under porches and decks.
2. *In the attic the stored cardboard, papers, and paper backing of insulation batts are fine substitutes for leaf piles. “Let’s party!”
3. *Clear and clean places where roaches love to hide, such as piles of old magazines or in laundry or dirty dishes.

Finally, let them know you mean business! 

Spread a dusting of Diatomaceous Earth on the surfaces in the cabinets, garage, attic, basement, and crawl space. The microscopically sharp dust gets under the plates of their exoskeleton and zaps them in their tracks. A professional exterminator would be happy to know that you’ve done your part so they can have better success in using environmentally friendlier pest control tactics.

See, there’s lots you can do to spoil the fun they hoped they’d find at your place!

At A Healthier Home, we are constantly on the lookout for the frequently overlooked risk factors, including cockroaches, that seriously could compromise your health or that of your family. 

Chronic symptoms? We can help.