Cockroach Pest Control
Common or Oriental Cockroach (Blatta Orientalis)
The Common Cockroach is one of the most prevalent species in the UK. They prefer cooler temperatures and are thus found in basements and paths adjacent to buildings. Unlike other pest cockroaches, Orientals cannot climb up smooth surfaces. Adult cockroaches can live up to a year, during which females produce an average of 150 young. Many types of pathogenic bacteria have been found to be carried by the Common Cockroach including, gastro-enteritis, salmonella and the tapeworm.
German Cockroach (Blattella Germanica)
The German Cockroach is arguably the most prevalent cockroach species in Europe and North America. Highly versatile and cosmopolitan, it's small body size and breeding strategies make it a highly successful pest. Large institutions e.g. hospitals, hotels, and prisons are particularly at risk.
Significance
Cockroaches are potential vectors of diseases such as dysentery, gastroenteritis, typhoid and poliomyelitis. Their diet is omnivorous and includes fermenting substances, soiled septic dressings, hair, leather, parchment, wallpaper, faeces and food for human consumption. The latter may be contaminated either by the mechanical transfer of causative agents of disease from the insect’s body, or by transmission in the faeces.
An outbreak of food poisoning in a Brussels hospital subsided immediately after an infestation of German Cockroaches was controlled.
Cockroaches and their faeces may cause allergic reactions especially amongst sensitive individuals eg. Asthmatics. Exposure may result from ingestion or through the inhalation of materials derived from cockroaches in airborne dust. In addition, food may be tainted with the characteristic smell of the cockroach, which is produced by faeces and salivary/abdominal gland secretions, or by the dead insects.