Eliminating cockroach infestations can significantly improve indoor environmental quality by reducing exposure to harmful substances, new study reveals.
After all, the elderly are right: letting cockroaches go free is bad for our health. This is what a new publication published in Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology last month.
This is because, explain its authors, endotoxins are components of bacterial cell walls released when bacteria die. As cockroaches are omnivorous and consume a wide variety of materials, maintain a complex and diverse intestinal microbiome.
Researchers found significant amounts of endotoxins in infested homes, with females excreting about twice the amount released by males.
“Female cockroaches eat more than males, so they excrete more endotoxins in their feces,” explained Madhavi Kakumanu, a researcher at NC State and co-corresponding author of the study. He also added that more endotoxins were found in kitchens than in bedrooms, as cockroaches concentrate in kitchens, where there is more food available.
“Endotoxins are important for human health because theyInhalation of these components has been shown to provoke allergic responses“, he told Coby Schal, Professor of Entomology and corresponding co-author of the article that describes the investigation.
“Previous studies in North American homes have found much higher endotoxin levels in homes with evidence of cockroaches; this association is stronger in low-income housing than in single-family homes,” he says.
“When you eliminate cockroaches, you also eliminate their allergens. Small reductions in the number of cockroaches do not reduce allergen levels, because the remaining cockroaches continue to release large amounts of substances,” explains Schal.
“Endotoxins decreased significantly in homes where cockroaches were eradicated. This study shows that cockroaches are the main source of endotoxins in infested homes.”
