Most people are not fans of cockroaches. A common pest that can easily infest your property, cockroaches take advantage of unsanitary conditions and rotting food. In return, they spread disease throughout our homes.

All that disease is bad enough, as a cockroach infestation always warrants an immediate call to our local exterminator. But cockroaches can also cause allergic reactions through the skin they shed, the oils they spread, and the excrement they can leave behind. These droppings can cause reactions that specifically trigger asthma attacks in people who were already struggling with asthma.

What is Asthma?

It is important to understand what asthma is before we go looking for cockroaches hiding in our homes. Asthma is a long-term medical condition with no known cure that makes it harder for people to move oxygen through the airways of their lungs.

These tubes in our lungs are essential for moving air throughout our body, and when someone is struggling with asthma those airways can narrow and become inflamed. It is much harder to breathe through inflamed airways, as one would probably expect. Treatment for asthma involves an assortment of different inhaler, which can relax the muscles of an individual, making it easier for them to breather during an asthma episode.

How do Cockroaches Cause Asthma?

The danger a cockroach poses to asthma comes down to the droppings a cockroach leaves behind when it is in our home. Cockroaches are not just here to eat our food and stay rent-free, they also breed with other cockroaches, molt when it is time to shed dead skin, and leave the waste of our food that they have been eating behind.

All of these remains cause allergic reactions in many people. For some, this simply looks like a stuffy nose, coughing, or light wheeze. Individuals who are living with asthma though can starting having asthma flare-ups which result in inflamed airways more severe than before. These asthma attacks can be incredibly detrimental to a person’s health if not taken care of promptly.

How Do I Keep Cockroaches Away?

The best deterrent against asthma attacks caused by cockroach is to make sure the cockroaches don’t get into your house in the first place. Like any pest infestation, keeping an eye out for increasing numbers is a good practice, but cockroaches are very skilled at making their way into our homes unseen.

Thankfully there are several different steps you can take to help make sure a cockroach infestation never begins, such as:

• Consistent Cleaning – Make sure you’re regularly cleaning your home. This includes the kitchen floors, sinks, counters and stoves. Be sure to look for a small crevice that don’t get attention often, as these can be breeding grounds for cockroaches.
• Food and Waste Management – Alternately cockroaches are looking for food, so it’s good to keep any food containers sealed and take out the garbage often so that cockroaches don’t have the time to find your trash.
• Remove Their Access to Water – Cockroaches also need water to survive, just like we do. Fixing any leaks in your house is a great way to make sure that they don’t have access to your resources that make your home attractive in the first place.

The first thing you should do if you think you are having an asthma attack that is being caused by a cockroach infestation is to go see your doctor. Your health is the number one priority.

The second thing you should do is call your local exterminator. Cockroaches need to be removed from your house if they’ve been allowed to settle. Your exterminator will know the correct procedure to get the job done and get those cockroaches out of your life so you can start breathing easier.