Common household pests and the health risks they cause

The essence of a home is to not only have a roof over your head but also to have peace and comfort — to be able to relax with peace of mind.

But soon enough, a homeowner’s peace is threatened by pests.

While some pests can wreak havoc on your furniture and even the timber component of the home, the health risks they cause are of great significance.

Pests like rodents and mosquitoes can spread diseases. They also disrupt your peace and beauty sleep. On the other hand, termites and ants can destroy your home’s wooden components.

However, not all pests pose the same health risks. While some are more dangerous than others, it’s important to know the health risks each pest can cause, so you know how cautious you need to be.

Below is a list of common household pests that threaten homeowners:

• Rodents
• Cockroaches
• Mosquitoes
• Bed bugs
• Lice
• Flies
• Termites
• Tick

We shall now discuss these common household pests and the health risks they cause.

Cockroaches

Cockroaches are one of the worst pests that can ever infest your home. They’ve become so highly adapted to living with humans that they become very hard to scare off. As a result, cockroach control may be one of the most challenging tasks you will ever face as a homeowner.

Cockroaches carry a particular protein that can trigger allergies and cause skin irritation when humans contact a cockroach’s body part. Their bodies also give off a distinctive odour that characterizes a cockroach-infested area.

But that’s not all. Cockroaches can also trigger asthmatic attacks and cause emotional and psychological distress when some people encounter them.

Cockroaches are a complete menace, and it’s in your best interest to control them professionally.

Rodents

Rodents are a nightmare in the home. They can disrupt your sleep as they scamper through the kitchen and even your bedroom.

Rodents are aesthetically repulsive, spread diseases, and destroy property as they scavenge your home in search of food. Rodents are known to spread rat-bite fever, plague, murine typhus, rickettsialpox, and leptospirosis.

Rodents are not only a health risk when they bite you or eat your food items. Mice leave contaminants wherever they go, from their body parts to their urine. Poison doesn’t always work with rats as they’re very cautious of what they eat. Consider professional pest control to get rid of rodents quickly.

Eliminating food sources from exposed areas is one way to prevent a rodent infestation.

Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes usually thrive in warm, damp environments. Standing water is a natural breeding ground for them as they lay their eggs which hatch into larvae right inside the water. The larvae soon undergo metamorphosis and develop into an adult, which flies into your home searching for food.

And, of course, female mosquitoes are parasitic, meaning they depend on your blood to survive. So as they pierce their proboscis into your skin, they can pass plasmodium into your bloodstream, putting you at risk of malaria.

Malaria and yellow fever are two common diseases spread by mosquitos. These mosquito-borne diseases have plagued generations. Now, mosquitoes also put us at risk of Lyme disease.

Since mosquitos breed in standing water, a crucial step to control them is to prevent water from staying stagnant within and outside your home. Check your drains and pipes to ensure there are no leakages.

Bed bugs

Bed bugs are annoying as they tend to feast on you at night. They don’t travel into your home in search of food as rodents and cockroaches do. Instead, they follow you home when you’ve been in a bed bug-infested area and feed on you. As soon as you notice you have bed bugs, you must hire bed bug removal London services, or those closer, to prevent them from spreading throughout your home.

Although bed bugs do not directly spread diseases like mosquitoes, their bites are itchy, and the more you scratch, your exposed skin becomes prone to infections.

Additionally, bed bug bites can trigger allergic reactions. So, if any member of your family is allergic to bed bugs, it’s best to find a bed bug exterminator as soon as possible. These insects may look tiny and harmless, but the psychological challenges and sleep problems they can cause are pretty significant.

Lice

Lice are tiny and can infest your body or hair. Lice can spread skin irritation and rashes and usually cause physical distress in the host.

Also, body lice are known to transmit louse-borne diseases such as trench fever, relapsing fever, and epidemic typhus.

However, the head louse does not cause any known diseases. Whatever the case, the distress they cause as they ravage your head must prompt you to take immediate control measures.

Flies

Without a doubt, flies are a sign of poor sanitation. Why? Flies are attracted to decaying organic matter, and as soon as they arrive, they begin to lay eggs which hatch into larvae within a week. The longer the decaying matter lies unmoved, the eggs hatch into hundreds of adult flies and infest your home.

Therefore, it becomes crucial that you remove food crumbs and garbage regularly. Allowing them to stay and decay is simply calling for a fly infestation.

A fly can carry up to 1 million bacteria on its body. They perch on decaying matter and excreta, land on your food items, and put you at risk of cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, and eye infections.

Termites

Termites are a problem to homeowners as they typically infest timber. Notably, termites do not attack humans or touch your food items, so they do not directly constitute a health risk to humans.

However, termites can quickly eat into your home’s wooden structure, putting it at risk of damage. And termites are difficult to control when the infestation is full-blown. Only cockroach pest control costs more.

Do not mistake termites for ants. They’re different and pose different risks to your structure.

Tick

Ticks can infest your home through pets. They’re parasitic and can live on a dog’s skin hidden underneath the fur. So it’s great to check your pets so that you don’t collect the tick onto your body.

Although tick bites do not cause any symptoms, they can trigger allergic reactions in some people. Also, a tick can pass disease from a pest to a human when it bites. This can be pretty dangerous.

Wrapping up

Each pest has its specific control measures, so it is often a wild goose chase addressing cockroaches as you would bed bugs. A pest-free home is a house with greater chances of peace, hygiene, and comfort. Consider getting professional pest control to enjoy a pest-free home.