In the business of pest control, it’s more likely than you think to stumble across pests that can be considered dangerous to the people unknowingly coexisting with them. Are we talking about a poisonous snake under your home or a rabid animal in your garage, sure, but more than likely the dangerous pests found in or around your home are not so obvious.
While pests can range from no more than a general nuisance to extremely dangerous, some pests are known for carrying a host of diseases and can create a breeding ground for ailments when they turn your home into a habitat. These pests may seem harmless outside of their general presence, but the failure of a homeowner to detect and properly contain an infestation can lead to an outbreak among you and your loved ones.
Understand which pests while harmless at face value are actually carrying dangerous diseases.
Rats Mice and Other Pests Can Carry Diseases
An underlying issue with pests that some homeowners don’t consider is their penchant for carrying diseases. Parasitic insects such as fleas, ticks, and bed bugs can inflict bacterial infections through their bites as they draw blood out of their hosts to feed on. Rats and mice pick up a host of bacteria as they work their way through sewers and drainage pipes that they can pass onto humans through skin contact or spreading it across surfaces. And roaches can spread foodborne illness through contact with organic material that spreads to you when you ingest contaminated food. These diseases range from relatively benign to serious infections and viruses, and even something that starts off as a minor illness can do serious harm to you and your loved ones.
Cockroaches
In addition to creating a filthy environment and being an unwelcome presence in your home, cockroaches are one of the pest control fields’ most common carriers of disease. Roaches’ body shape has their body rest close to the floor, and their preference to feed on any organic food source and living in dark, moist places leads to them collecting and spreading a wealth of bacteria to you and your family. Roaches also have a habit of leaving their fecal matter on their surroundings, so if they contaminate food with their waste and you don’t happen to notice, you could be contracting salmonella, streptococcus, and staphylococcus unknowingly putting your family in serious danger.
Ticks and Fleas
Other common carriers of disease in the insect world are fleas, and ticks. These pests are aggressive parasites that are known for feeding on the blood of humans and animals. Because they have to bite their hosts in order to drain their blood for sustenance, these parasites can often transfer diseases they carry with their saliva while feeding. Fleas and ticks can carry a variety of diseases because of the environment they live in, including a host of dangerous ones like Lyme disease, tick paralysis, and rocky mountain spotted fever.
Rats
The final inclusion on our list, and the only one that is not an insect or parasite, is rats. Rats are some of the most preeminent carriers of disease in the animal kingdom, and their habit of picking up bacteria leads them to carry more diseases than any other kind of rodents. Rats often enter homes through sewer pipes or improperly sealed plumbing fixtures, and their penchant for living in filth leads to them collecting a variety of diseases. Anything they touch has a slew of diseases and bacteria transferred to it, including most of your home’s surfaces as they hunt for food and nesting materials. Rats commonly carry leptospirosis, hantaviruses, rat-bite fever, and salmonella, all of which can be harmful to humans and pets.
Stop Diseased Pests & Protect Your Family with General Pest Control
These carriers of disease can be extremely harmful to you and your loved ones, but it doesn’t have to come to this. The diseases that come from pests can lead to vomiting, sickness, and even long-term health concerns.
Should you find yourself dealing with a real infestation, we have the tools and knowledge to eradicate your problem. We offer free consultations to determine the root of your problems, and a variety of services that can treat all of your pest control concerns. If you have a problem with pests, contact General Pest Control and watch your problems disappear. Our customer service team is ready to assist, and our technicians will have the tools to solve your problems the right way. If you’re concerned about the potential threat of insect-borne diseases and their impact on your family, call General Pest Control today.