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Pests in homes, schools, restaurants, hospitals, warehouses, and offices, cockroaches contaminate food and eating utensils, stain and defile surfaces, destroy fabric and paper products. Why worry? German cockroaches are believed to transmit disease-causing organisms such as Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, hepatitis virus and coliform bacteria. Also, asthma associations suggest that up to 60% of urban residents are allergic to the faeces, saliva and urine of cockroaches.
Adults are light brown, about 1/2 inch long, sport long antennae and the 2 stripes on their back are usually covered by a pair of thin wings. The teenaged nymphs are slightly smaller and do not have wings.
Sanitation and exclusion are the keys to controlling or preventing cockroach infestations. The homeowner must clean up, dry up and seal up all likely hiding places like cupboards, stoves, unkempt outdoor vegetation and utility entrances. Water drips and leaks, indoors and out must be repaired and all refuse, human and pet foods must be sealed in hard plastic or metal containers.
Extraordinarily resilient, cockroaches can live in the cold of a refrigerator and the toxic fumes of an auto gas tank, so their populations must be closely monitored with sticky or baited traps for signs of resurgence.
