We are often asked: “How dangerous are the cockroach bites? What are cockroach bites symptoms? What is the treatment for cockroach bites?”.
People see the bites and try to clear up who has bitten them. The question is how to get it that either this bite is cockroach bite or not.
The most common cockroach bite symptoms, in general opinion are:
- Red bumps are among the primary symptoms. These red bumps are bit larger than a mosquito bite and similar to the scab. In this case, one should not scratch them as this can worsen the condition and can cause severe inflammation and other complexities.
- Like many other mosquito bites, these bites also cause redness and skin rashes.
- Besides swelling and rashes with the passage of time cluster of bumps appears at the site of the bite.
Cockroach Bites: The Facts and Myths
When speaking about the cockroach bites, they usually refer to the research of Roth and Willis (1957, 1960) where they described 20 cases of cockroach bites of a person.
"Roth and Willis (1957) discussed 20 reports of cockroaches bitten men. However, such instances are rare and not serious; they are discussed here only because questions are often asked concerning the biting ability of cockroaches. There have been a number of reports in the literature of cockroaches being so numerous in ships that they gnawed the skin and nails of the men on board; in one case, the sailors wore gloves while sleeping to prevent hordes of the insects from gnawing off their fingernails (Roth and Willis, 1960). Cockroaches are most likely to gnaw fingernails, eyelashes (of sleeping children), and the callused portions of hands and feet, but can also cause small wounds on the softer skin. Periplaneta americana and P. australasiae are the species most often implicated" (URBAN ENTOMOLOGY By Walter Ebeling). But the biologist Joseph G. Kunkel, Professor Emeritus, Biology Department, Massachusetts Amherst, tells that cockroaches can actually bite but only on the condition we don’t move around too much during sleep. At night they are quite able to try to gnaw our ear lobules. But only large kinds of cockroaches will be able to bite through our skin. That is why if you move around much during sleep, you may be sure that you won’t be bitten.
But the skin of infants and children is much more tender and, therefore, is more vulnerable to the bites of cockroaches.
Treatment for Cockroach Bites
If, upon a wakening, you have discovered that you are bitten, you shouldn’t clear up immediately if these are the bites of cockroaches or of somebody else. First of all, the symptoms should be relieved for you not to scratch yourself.
There are many kinds of treatment if you believe you have been bitten by cockroaches, and some of these variants are given below:
- Stop rubbing or pressing the affected part and wash it with clean water.
- Gently wash the affected area with alcohol.
- You can also apply hydrocortisone cream but it’s better to consult a medical expert before that. As there are a number of medicaments available with specifications, therefore, it is better to use the perfect one in order to avoid side effects.
- Bites of different insects, especially of cockroaches, are not fatal. But certainly, they can cause allergies and secondary infections. So, instead of neglecting them, visit a doctor.
Why Are Cockroaches so Dangerous?
Cockroaches are able to cause an allergy. Tropomyosin is likely to be one of the proteins causing allergy. The cockroaches’ allergens can enter the body by the ways of inhalation, contact and with food.
There are some data that in the USA 60% of bronchial asthma patients living in cities have an allergic reaction to cockroaches. Allergens of cockroaches’ excrement are of the utmost allergenicity and thermostability (i.e. are not destroyed when exposed to temperature 100 °C).
"Some people are allergic to cockroaches. In one investigation among 253 normal persons, 7.5% showed positive skin tests with extracts of cockroaches (Periplaneta americana and Blatta orientalis) compared with 28% of an unselected group of 114 allergic patients. Skin-sensitizing antibodies were present in the blood sera of positive reactors. The allergen is thermostabile. There is evidence that in some instances symptoms attributable to food allergy may be caused by cockroach allergen with which the food is contaminated (Bernton and Brown, 1964, 1970a, b).
In an investigation to test the age of onset of skin reactivity, 38 out of 102 allergic children, ranging from infants to 12 years old, gave positive cutaneous reactions to body extracts of the German cockroach, Blattella germanica, compared with only 5 out of 100 nonallergic children. A 4-year-old asthmatic child was the youngest to give a positive reaction (Bernton and Brown, 1970a). In a later investigation, it was found that an extract of B. germanica caused an attack of asthma in 10 asthmatic persons with skin hypersensitivity to the extract and other allergens, but not in asthmatics without such skin hypersensitivity (Bernton et al., 1972).
An allergen in the feces of B. germanica acts as an ingestant when it contaminates food and as an inhalant when dried fecal particles become incorporated with house dust (Bernton and Brown, 1970b) (URBAN ENTOMOLOGY By Walter Ebeling)".
Cockroach Prevention
Apart from their grotesque look, cockroaches are also the main cause of allergy in humans. Secondly they harm the food and other edible articles present in kitchen and store. Not only this, but they also affect the overall hygienic conditions as well. We can avoid our direct contact with cockroaches by having some precautionary measures.
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