Do Cockroaches Carry Diseases And Make You Sick?

Do roaches transmit diseases? Yes. We’ll be looking at some examples of infections they carry.

Roaches are some of the most difficult pests to deal with especially when faced with an infestation.

More frightening is the thought that roaches could carry and transmit diseases to humans.

Hence the question; do roaches carry diseases? As you go through this article, your questions should be fully answered.

Common Diseases That Roaches Transmit

Your fears are fully justified because roaches indeed do carry diseases. The worst part is that these diseases can easily be transmitted to humans.

Common diseases include Listeriosis, Salmonellosis, Campylobacteriosis, Typhoid Fever, and Plague.

Others include Cholera, Leprosy, and Dysentery among many others. This is grim news and calls for urgent action when faced with a roach infestation. There are a whole lot of actions to take to contain roach incursion and infestation.

Here, we’ll elaborate more on the above diseases and the problems caused including common symptoms that show that a person has been infected.

• Listeriosis

Roaches transmit this disease when they come in contact with food or any edible substance which is later ingested by humans. This contamination leads to an infection known as listeriosis.

Now, people with strong immune systems may not be affected with zero symptoms shown at all.

However, for those with weak immune systems such as the elderly, pregnant women, and newborns, such symptoms are very common. Symptoms usually include diarrhea, fever, and muscle aches.

In severe instances (when this disease spreads beyond the gastrointestinal tract), symptoms include convulsions, headaches, loss of balance, stiff neck, and confusion. It may lead to miscarriage in pregnant women.

• Salmonellosis

Salmonellosis is another disease carried by roaches.

Other pests known to transmit this disease are rodents. This bacteria results when roaches feed on contaminated food. This becomes transmitted through their droppings and vomits on food eaten by humans.

Symptoms for this disease won’t show immediately in an infected person. It takes about 12 to 72 hours for signs of an infection to begin showing. Common signs of this bacterial infection include vomit, diarrhea, and fever.

Luckily, you won’t require medication to make a full recovery (which is usually after about 4 to 7 days). However, a lot of replenishing fluids must be taken as it helps with quick recovery.

• Campylobacteriosis

This is quite a mouthful when pronouncing. However, the most important fact here is that it’s among the list of diseases carried and transmitted by roaches. The Campylobacter bacterium carried by roaches causes this infection.

Transmission of this disease happens in a variety of ways among which includes ingesting contaminated food. To identify symptoms, infected persons experience fever, diarrhea, abdominal pain as well as cramps.

Infected persons usually make a full recovery or comeback without medication. This lasts for about 2 to 10 days.

During this time, you may want to consider replenishing body fluids as it helps with faster recovery.

• Typhoid Fever

Typhoid fever is yet another disease carried by roaches. This is a bacterial infection that can be easily transmitted to humans when roaches eat contaminated feces. Quite gross but a reality! Typhoid fever transmission is very common in areas with poor sanitary practices.

Common symptoms of this disease include stomach pain, high temperature, exhaustion, muscle, and headaches, as well as constipation. Unlike some of the diseases mentioned above, it’s best to seek urgent medical attention as the treatment helps eliminate the disease within a few days.

However not getting the needed medical help complicates and worsens the disease. You don’t want to leave this to chance. Get help!

• Plague

This term has come to be associated with grave health challenges. Are we talking about the dreaded bubonic plague?

Absolutely! Roaches too carry this disease. Common symptoms include high fever, swollen and painful lymph nodes, muscle cramps, and chills.

When anyone is displaying any or all of these signs, urgent medical attention and treatment are needed. Medications include antibiotics which must be taken within 24 hours of being infected. This disease has been responsible for the loss of millions of lives. You don’t want to be listed as a statistic.

• Cholera

This bacterial infection is also carried by roaches who readily spread it through food contamination.

Ingesting contaminated food or drinks leads to infection. Roaches will readily contaminate food by spreading this bacterium through vomit and feces.

Touching contaminated surfaces may also result in getting infected when eating with unwashed and contaminated hands. Common cholera symptoms include severe dehydration and acute watery diarrhea.

The positive news here is that a greater percentage of infected persons (about 80%) rarely show signs of symptoms.

• Leprosy

Roaches do carry leprosy disease too.

These can be easily spread to humans when they come in contact with your food. When affected, the leprosy bacteria don’t show any signs for easy detection. However, when left untreated, it eventually causes serious deformities.

Such deformities range from irreversible damage to skin, eyes, nerves, and eventually leads to deformities and disfigurements. Although it has an incubation time of around 5 years, symptoms eventually manifest as much as 20 years later.

You might want to have some medical checkup if you’ve been exposed to roaches for some time.

• Dysentery

Dysentery results when you come in contact or eat contaminated food.

What more? Dysentery can easily be transmitted where poor hand hygiene is practiced. Two types of dysentery are common; amoebic dysentery and bacillary dysentery.

You can easily make a full recovery without medical attention when you get infected with this disease.

Common symptoms of dysentery include high temperature, diarrhea containing mucus and blood, vomiting, painful stomach cramps, and nausea.

Other Diseases Carried by Roaches

The diseases listed above are only a few of many others. Some of those left out include E. coli infections, streptococcus, staphylococcus aureus, and more.

Mode of Infection

When roaches come into your home, they seek food, favorable nesting conditions, and moisture among others.

Through their activities, the diseases they carry are easily transmitted through their saliva as they feed on exposed food, direct contact with exposed food, vomit, and droppings.

Can you get sick from roaches in your house? Yes.

We’ve answered this question in the affirmative. Now that you know, it’s important to take adequate measures to fight back roach infestation. Your food should be properly covered and stored.

Preventive measures are the most effective ways to keep them out.