Annoyed by cockroaches and ants?
Millions of homes throughout the country are affected by uninvited guests like cockroaches and ants.
Why are cockroaches and ants seen in your kitchen and bathroom? At a loss trying to figure out how to get rid of them and why they came inside your house in the first place? These pests are attracted to sugary food and in search of water. That’s why they are in your kitchen and bathroom.
Seeing them regularly in large numbers indicates there are nests inside. They have built a colony somewhere in the wall cracks, moist wooden structure or damaged wooden cabinets that have been sustained by water leakage.
Cockroaches are one of the filthiest domestic pests. They are disease carriers to your family members. So don’t discount them just because they are irritating.
Disease and allergy caused by cockroaches
Cockroaches can live just about anywhere and are found in large numbers living in unsanitary places like in the sewerage tank. They can live on fermented substances, feces, spoiled and rotting food. Therefore, it is easy to explain where cockroach diseases come from. Many of the substances they feed on are already contaminated and as they move from one place to another, they spread the disease along to your family members.
No wonder cockroaches carry diseases such as typhoid fever. Patients contracting typhoid fever experience abdominal pain, diarrhea, high fever with temperatures above 39⁰C, loss of appetite, and intestinal bleeding due to serious infection of intestinal inflammation.
Cockroaches don’t just spread diseases; many people are allergic to cockroach feces and come into contact with this by inhaling particles of dust in the air that are left behind by cockroaches. In fact, eating food contaminated with the smell of cockroaches, particles of cockroach feces, and salivary gland secretions may cause asthma and other health problem to sensitive individuals.
Disease caused by rats
Source: Center of Disease Control, USA
What is Leptospirosis?
Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that affects humans and animals. It is caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira commonly carried by urban rats, and also not limited to cattle, pigs, dogs and wild animals.
How is Leptospirosis spread to human?
The bacteria that cause leptospirosis are spread through the urine of infected rats, which can get into water or soil and can survive there for weeks to months. Many different kinds of wild and domestic animals carry the bacterium.
How can human get infected by Leptospirosis?
Humans can become infected through:
- Contact with urine (or other body fluids, except saliva) from infected rats and other animals.
- Contact with water, soil, or food contaminated with the urine of infected rats and other animals.
The bacteria can enter the body through skin or mucous membranes (eyes, nose, or mouth), especially if the skin is broken from a cut or scratch. Drinking contaminated water can also cause infection. Outbreaks of leptospirosis are usually caused by exposure to contaminated water, such as floodwaters. Person to person transmission is rare.
What are the symptoms and signs of Leptospirosis?
In humans, Leptospirosis can cause a wide range of symptoms, some of which may be mistaken for other diseases. Some infected persons, however, may have no signs at all.
Some of the wide range of symptoms, including:
- High fever
- Headache
- Chills
- Muscle aches
- Vomiting
- Jaundice (yellow skin and eyes)
- Red eyes
- Abdominal Pain
- Diarrhea
- Rash
The time between a person’s exposure to a contaminated source and becoming sick is 2 days to 4 weeks. Illness usually begins abruptly with fever and other symptoms.
Leptospirosis may occur in two phases:
- After the first phase (with fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, vomiting, or diarrhea) the patients may recover for a time but become ill again.
- If a second phase occurs, it is more severe; the person may have kidney or liver failure or meningitis. This phase is also called Weil’s disease.
The illness lasts from a few days to 3 weeks or longer. Without treatment, recovery may take several months.
Without treatment, Leptospirosis can lead to kidney damage, meningitis (inflammation of the membrane around the brain and spinal cord), liver failure, respiratory distress, and even death.
