Do You Have A Fear Of Cockroaches? What Kind of Phobia This is?

Katsaridaphobia, or fear of cockroaches, is quite common. Many people are afraid of these tiny insects.

In some cases, this fear of cockroaches is so extreme that some people cannot even function around them.

However, it is not their fault.

According to some studies, there are various reasons for fear of cockroaches, which we will be breaking down in today’s post.

Bonus part:

Till the end of this post, you will also get solutions on how to overcome the fear of cockroaches quickly.

Let’s get started:

Fear Of Cockroaches Phobia – Katsaridaphobia

Cockroaches are fast-moving, difficult-to-catch, and hard-to-kill insects. They are experts in hiding when any danger appears, so it is very tough to catch them.

On top of that, it doesn’t matter what you are doing; they will show up any time and out of nowhere.

Also, these unsightly insects can contaminate food items and infest your kitchen, which can also impact your health.

Therefore, having cockroaches in the room is a nightmare. And it is why some people are scared of these roaches.

However, it is also true that some people are not scared of these tiny insects.

Hence, it becomes more important to know why only a few people get scared too much while some don’t know when any cockroach appears.

If a person gets too scared due to these insects (specific cockroaches), they might have a phobia.

According to Harvard Medical School, Phobias are defined as fears that are:

• Persistent
• Excessive
• Unrealistic

These fears can be of an object, person, animal activity, or situation and are also referred to as anxiety disorders.

And a person with a phobia either tries to avoid that particular thing that triggers the fear or endures it with great anxiety and distress.

Therefore, people having cockroach fear may get paranoid or anxious depending on their anxiety severity.

People dealing with a phobia of cockroaches are referred to have Katsaridaphobia.

“Katsarida” is the Greek word for cockroaches, and phobia stands for fear.

However, getting away from the sight of a cockroach is not the same as being unable to function around them. Therefore, there is a slight difference between having a phobia and ‘not liking’ it.

And it is why some people feel disgusted after seeing a roach while some are terrified.

If you feel an intense fear when seeing a cockroach, then it may be possible that you are dealing with Katsaridaphobia.

Generally, humans fear these tiny cockroaches’ movement, anatomy, and behavior. Even from a young age, people learn to be afraid of roaches.

It is also true that, in some cases, a negative cockroach experience can also become a phobia over time.

Certain personality traits or brain chemicals can also leave people more vulnerable to phobia development.

If you have Katsaridaphobia, you may have terrifying fantasies about what might happen when a cockroach is around you. A cockroach’s presence can easily trigger your solid and irrational behavior.

Sometimes, people cannot even go about daily life and handle responsibilities if any cockroach is around or near them.

Even the thought of one may cause and trigger this fear.

Therefore, in severe cases, it becomes hard to live with this phobia, which is why people with bad cases of Katsaridaphobia seek treatment to overcome the fear of cockroaches.

Symptoms Of Katsaridaphobia

The symptoms of Katsaridaphobia can vary in different people, as the intensity of fear gets triggered differently in other people.

Sometimes, people get terrified not to work around this tiny insect, or some manage their fear and live everyday lives.

You may even be one of them to manage your fear and live without any worries.

However, as said before, the symptoms of Katsaridaphobia vary accordingly, so you need to check how many severe signs occur when facing a cockroach.

Intense Anxiety When You See A Cockroach

It is one of the prevalent symptoms when it comes to the fear of cockroaches. People get anxious and have panic attacks when they see a cockroach near them.

People with Katsaridaphobia may even experience anxiety significantly out of touch with reality.

And therefore, in severe cases, people may also experience a full-blown panic attack leading to hospitalization, but it varies from person to person.

In some cases, people even get anxious at the thought of cockroaches, so they excessively treat their homes with pesticides to eliminate them.

The anxiety due to fear of cockroaches is not good as it can also lead to developing other mental disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder or phobias.

Muscle Tension, Shakiness, And Sweating

The intense trigger of Katsaridaphobia leads to stress on the body, leading to the inability to focus on work.

People also experience shaking in some cases with sweating, which is a clear sign of cockroach fear triggering them.

However, it is common and can be controlled. It usually happens when people are overly concerned with the danger of cockroaches.

It also clearly shows that the person who fears cockroaches cannot cope with intense emotions.

Therefore, the intense emotion leads to muscle tension, shakiness, and sweating.

Irrational Behavior

Some people tend to have irrational behavior triggered due to extreme fear of roaches. For example, a prevalent symptom is jumping to bed after seeing a cockroach in the bedroom.

Crying and screaming are also parts of a fear of roaches that people with Katsaridaphobia go through.

Therefore, these irrational behavior symptoms are triggered due to an extreme fear of cockroaches.

Having An Elevated Heart Rate

Due to fear of a cockroach, people can also experience an elevated heart rate with rapid breathing.

It is a symptom that you are feeling fear and danger, which leads to the release of adrenaline in your body and a feeling of dread.

Therefore, the heart rate increases when you see a cockroach, a common symptom of Katsaridaphobia.

Getting Panicked

As said before, getting panicked when you see a cockroach shows you might have Katsaridaphobia, but in some cases, this panic attack can also be severe.

For instance, people might find a cockroach in a car, which can trigger the phobia, and now the person tries to get rid of this situation.

And as the panic attack comes in, the person driving the car tries to brush away the roach while driving, which can be dangerous, leading to accidents.

Apart from these symptoms, some other symptoms can easily be observed when you have a phobia of cockroaches, such as:

• Feeling dizzy or weak in the knees
• Fainting
• Rapid breath

Remember that the symptoms of cockroach phobia vary from person to person. Therefore, one cannot simply diagnose themself with Katsaridaphobia through symptoms only.

Getting yourself clinically diagnosed is the ideal way to know if you have a phobia of cockroaches or don’t like these disgusting insects.

Causes Of Katsaridaphobia

The exact cause of someone having Kastaridaphobia or an intense fear of cockroaches is not entirely understood as it depends on person to person and several other factors.

However, to closely guess the causes of Katsaridaphobia, we have to understand our human history slightly.

When our ancestors used to live in caves, they were biologically and mentally programmed to stay alert to creepy crawlers when they slept in those caves or the open.

And now, in the modern world, we still have those instincts where we don’t want any creepy insects to stay around us.

Cockroaches are biologically built to love dark and warm places; therefore, they are primarily active in the nighttime.

It is why people mostly face these insects when they are sleeping or at night.

Cockroaches accidentally crawl or brush on our skin, making us feel disgusting and fearful.

Apart from this, Katsaridaphobia also occurs due to past negative or traumatic experiences with cockroaches.

However, most childhood cases of Katsaridaphobia resolve over time, and in some cases, it can persist to adulthood resulting in developing phobia over time.

Let’s have a look at different causes of Katsaridaphobia:

Childhood Negative Experience Or Trauma

It is one of the most common causes of Katsaridaphobia.

Children who might have been punished or locked in dark places or closed rooms where cockroaches hide can also develop this fear from this kind of experience in the past.

Therefore, those children might have a negative experience with the roaches.

However, generally, in most cases, this childhood trauma fades away within time. But somehow, if this trauma persists to adulthood, then chances are more that it will become a phobia for the person.

Before declaring yourself to suffer from Katsaridaphobia, you must remember to get yourself medically diagnosed first.

Also, you can seek help or solutions for this phobia once you are diagnosed. However, you should prefer solutions, especially when you are having severe symptoms.

Not Feeling Safe

Another possible cause of developing Katsaridaphobia is when people are stuck in a situation where they feel like the cockroaches compromise their safety.

As said before, it is our instincts given by our ancestors that we don’t like any other dangerous species around us. Therefore, we develop a fear of cockroaches.

Feeling Disgusted

When some people see a cockroach, they feel disgusted, and in severe cases, they might not be able to function around them.

Therefore, they slowly develop a fear that gets triggered when they see a cockroach around them.

Family And Environmental Factors

Family and environmental factors for a person also become why they might have developed a fear of cockroaches.

Someone with a family history of mental illness (especially with anxiety disorders) has a high chance of developing cockroach phobia.

On the other hand, someone with no such family history will have a low chance of developing this fear.

Therefore, family history and environmental factors become crucial concerning Katsaridaphobia.

So, these causes can lead to fear of roaches and slowly lead to phobia over time.

The good part is that this phobia can be overcome, but you must seek the right solution for yourself accordingly.

Why Am I Paranoid About Cockroaches?

Before you get to know about the reasons why you are paranoid about cockroaches, first, you should know that you are not the only one fearing roaches.

However, cockroach phobia or Katsaridaphobia is the extreme version; you might have a common fear of roaches. But still, if you are having severe symptoms, you can surely get yourself diagnosed.

According to Louisiana State University, they hypothesize that human beings are naturally scared of:

• Unnatural movement
• Organisms that can breed in large quantities

That means whenever we observe some abnormal movement or unknown organisms or organisms that can reproduce in large quantities; we tend to get afraid of it.

Therefore, it is natural that you might be frightened due to a cockroach.

No doubt, cockroaches can breed super fast and reproduce their population exponentially large in a short period but still, we don’t have any danger from them, which you need to understand.

It was also hypothesized that we are paranoid about them squeezing into body cavities as roaches are known to squeeze themselves into the various crevices within a home to hide.

Apart from this, the fear of cockroaches can also be related due to their anatomy. It includes their:

• Twitching antenna and limbs
• Wings
• Buggy eyes

That means you can get fear of their appearance as well. It is because their traits might be alien to us.

And once something alien or unnatural occurs in front of us, our survival instincts kick in and warn us to stay away from these creatures, creating fear.

However, logically, a cockroach can do little to no attack or hurt us, but our brain overreacts by making us too much worried about the fear of these roaches.

Why Are We Scared Of Cockroaches?

There can be several reasons for being scared of cockroaches, but there are many common reasons that we have already discussed above.

However, experts believe that behavior and phobias have several viewpoints that explain why you might have a phobia.

According to the Journal Of Clinical Psychology, these viewpoints are:

• Psychoanalytic
• Genetic
• Behavioral
• Cultural
• Biochemical
• Cognitive

Let’s dive deeper into each of these and understand the various viewpoints on having a specific phobia.

Psychoanalytic Viewpoint

According to this viewpoint, phobia originates from our early childhood experiences.

And we have already discussed a little bit about this type of feeling in the guide above.

Digging deep into this viewpoint tells us there could be some hidden unconscious feeling.

Your phobia might be a cover-up of possible inappropriate thoughts and feelings towards something else, which is coming up as a fear of cockroaches.

That means you might not be ‘severely’ scared of cockroaches.

Instead, it might be a cover-up of other negative thoughts and feelings associated with something else.

That is why it is also referred to as a masked phobia.

It also tells us that cockroach phobia is easier to handle and deal with than those feelings.

However, this phobia was developed in the 19th century and is severely outdated, but you need to understand this viewpoint to understand phobia better.

Genetic Viewpoint

It is true that genetically we get some features from our parents, but those features can be good or bad.

Similarly, some research speculates that certain people who fear cockroaches might have genetically inherited this phobia.

However, it is not clear as there are no specific genes that code for Katsaridaphobia.

But, personality traits such as neurosis, which are transmitted genetically, might transfer some susceptible genes where one can develop a specific phobia.

Above all, it is not clear, but still, it is an essential factor when a person develops a phobia.

Behavioral Viewpoint

The behavioral viewpoint talks more about cockroach fear as events that occur as traumatic experiences.

For instance, seeing a cockroach on your food or having a cockroach fly towards you might be included in such events.

Further, such phobias can also develop due to unrelated items but having a traumatic event.

For example, opening a jar and a cockroach crawling out can be an event that may trigger this experience with the thought of opening the jar another time or with the sight of jars.

Also, humans are genetically made to be frightened of particular objects which are naturally threatening. That may also be containers or spaces where content is hidden.

Additionally, our ancestors have learned to fear the unknown as that could be a potential danger to their life.

Moreover, the theory also explains the learning of the behavior directly through other factors such as:

• Your parents
• Caregivers
• Friends
• People in your community

That means how you react or feel about these things (even with roaches) gets into you as you observe them as a child and grow up with this behavior observation.

Therefore, you can also develop similar reactions and feelings after growing up.

Cultural Viewpoint

Cultural viewpoint is another type of viewpoint that describes why you might be afraid of cockroaches.

This viewpoint is quite similar to behavior but has a slight difference.

From a behavioral viewpoint, you are more likely to learn things from the behavior of the people surrounding you.

But in the case of cultural viewpoint, it all depends on observing the people’s behavior and reactions in your society or community.

This viewpoint also does not depend only on the person closest to you, therefore, it depends on the community itself.

Relating it to the cockroach fear, your community may be outspoken about their feelings toward cockroaches, and it is more likely to have a similar sense yourself.

It is how cultural viewpoint describes how one can have or learn feelings or emotions, whether positive or negative, from a cultural perspective through its community.

Biochemical Viewpoint

Everyone is unique, and so they have fantastic brain chemistry. It is similar to how we have different personality traits. It is what biochemical viewpoint.

The biochemical viewpoint tells us that apart from having genes inherited from parents to have different personality traits, we also have certain chemicals in our brains that make us develop a phobia.

On the other hand, if a person does not have these brain chemicals is not likely to have this phobia as the opposite person.

To make it understand better, let’s take an example of supposing two people had the same traumatic experience.

In the first person, the specific brain chemicals didn’t aid in the development of phobias, while in the second person, they did.

Therefore, the latter person is likelier to develop an intense fear or phobia.

It is how the biochemical viewpoint says about having an experience about a particular event. However, it is not in your control as it happens inside your body, and you can’t control brain chemicals.

Cognitive Viewpoint

The cognitive viewpoint describes the development of phobia on how you cognitively interpret a situation as an individual.

For instance, if you see a flying cockroach towards you, you can interpret it as something dangerous or that just got in your way.

Of course, in the first case, if you interpret a flying cockroach as a danger, it elicits fear. It increases your anxiety and chances of having a fear of cockroaches (specifically flying cockroaches).

On the other hand, if you see the cockroach as merely an object in your path, you will be less likely not to develop any fear of cockroaches from that event.

So it all sums up how you interpret a situation, it is what the cognitive viewpoint is.  

Solutions For Katsaridaphobia

In most cases, you don’t need to visit a doctor’s office to treat cockroach phobias. Instead, you can change your lifestyle slightly to overcome this fear.

The following is a list of solutions for Katsaridaphobia that you can look upon to get rid of your fear:

• Self-Help
• Various Therapies
• Virtual Reality
• Phone Apps

Let’s look closely at how you can take help from each of these to overcome your cockroach phobia.

Self-Help

Self-help is the best solution for overcoming the fear of cockroaches and applies to most people.

In this method, changing your lifestyle a bit can help you. For example, you can help curb anxiety symptoms and paranoia to some extent and overcome the fear of cockroaches.

Also, as in most cases, the fear of roaches is not extreme, so with self-help, you can quickly and easily overcome that.

Let’s have a look at what are the factors that can help you avoid the fear of roaches:

Diet

If you stay more anxious and stressed or have panic attacks, avoiding stimulants such as coffee, tea, and soft drinks in your diet can help to a very extent.

It will help reduce the likelihood of heart palpitations, panic attacks, shortness of breath, and choking sensation, making you calmer and more relaxed.

Along with slight diet improvement, you can also have regular nutritious meals and exercise daily to improve your lifestyle.

It will keep your mind and body relaxed to help you deal with your fear in a better way.

Self-Soothing

If you overthink or overreact when anxious, different relaxation techniques can help you overcome these.

Apart from diet, these self-soothing techniques are beneficial, which you should involve in your lifestyle such as:

• Meditation For Katsaridaphobia
• Yoga Katsaridaphobia
• Breathing exercises

Meditation and yoga are popular terms with several benefits and can be learned anywhere in the world.

These techniques will help you have clear thoughts relaxed mind and reduce your anxiety level to not panic during fear.

Further, breathing exercises are also there to help you calm and relax. These breathing exercises can reduce shortness of breath in a panic situation.

Apart from these techniques, getting enough sleep to help your mind relax every night after a tiring day and even getting a massage are also some methods to help you better care for yourself.

Remember, self-soothing is not limited to these techniques only. Instead, the ultimate goal is to improve yourself and control yourself to reduce anxiety, panic, and stress when facing fear.

The best part is that within time these techniques can also help you eliminate the fear from your mind. However, that takes time and patience.

Group Help

If none of the above solutions are for you, you can seek help from self-help groups. It is a better option for people who prefer talking things out with others.

Self-help groups help you solve your phobia and provide a better supportive environment.

As a self-help group, people have a similar experience, so you will not feel like you are alone, and it is why it becomes a comfortable source to get help and talk about your fear.

You can get such resources from your doctor or research online.

Group self-help is very beneficial if you are the one who can’t go with the methods mentioned above.

Various Therapies For Phobia

If your fear of cockroaches is extreme, along with physical symptoms, you can seek help from therapy. It also applies when you are unable to help yourself independently,

Also, a phobia is a type of mental disorder that causes anxiety and stress; therefore, therapy can be beneficial for you to overcome this.

Multiple therapies are available to help you not get scared of cockroaches. You can search for these therapies and choose accordingly to your need to book an appointment.

The ultimate benefits that you can have with therapy to avoid your phobia are:

• You will have a one-on-one person to talk to and discuss your intense dread.
• The counselor will help you find a way to avoid the severe fear and overcome your phobia.
• Ultimately, the therapy will help you get rid of your fear.

However, there are several therapies, like exposure therapy and others. You can choose as per your comfort and ask for the same.

Make sure to read reviews and choose the best possible therapist to get yourself help.

Virtual Reality Treatment

According to the Harvard Review Of Psychiatry, virtual reality treatments, sometimes paired with traditional behavioral therapies, are beneficial.

Thanks to the advancement of technology, we are now exploring virtual reality to help in some clinical testing and treatment.

Virtual reality benefits people with a flying phobia or fear of heights.

However, this technology has not become common or popular, even though it is helpful in various cases.

Virtual reality is not becoming common today because of its expensive equipment, which is also not accessible to everyone.

It is why even though the places which might be providing this service will be slightly more expensive.

Virtual reality treatment is a new area we are exploring, but soon, it is likely to be familiar as it is becoming helpful for various clinical uses.

Phone Apps

Downloadable phone apps can better substitute cognitive behavioral therapy methods or virtual reality options.

What you need to do in this is to download an app such as AR cockroach, and you need to practice self-discipline where you gradually expose yourself to roaches.

These apps are developed to simulate cockroaches crawling on your walls or floor. You can get rid of them with just one tap.

Remember that these apps are designed to have endless virtual roaches crawl around. So be careful. You will be exposed to several cockroaches while using this app.

The working method of this app is to make you overcome your fear of cockroaches through gradual exposure alone.

Therefore, you must be careful while using this as it will trigger your fear, and then you must practice self-discipline.

Further, you can also allocate time each day to practice discipline according to your tolerance level. Finally, it will help you build tolerance.

And once you are comfortable with this method, you can pair it with watching cockroach videos.

Of course, it is not as effective as the proven therapies, but at a certain level, it can help.

Therefore, in the end, you need to decide which solution is best for you.

Normal fear is natural, but if you have a phobia hampering your ability to function, you need a serious solution.

Choose accordingly and overcome your phobia.

How Can I Avoid Cockroaches?

It doesn’t matter if you have a fear of cockroaches or not; these tiny insects are a headache for everyone.

Once these cockroaches infest your home, you will have to put a lot of effort into eliminating them.

Therefore, why not follow some steps to avoid cockroaches altogether and never face them in your home?

Yes, avoiding cockroaches is possible if you follow some precautionary steps altogether.

From your kitchen in the house to the car you drive, cockroaches can infest anywhere. Therefore, let’s have a look at how you can avoid cockroaches.

Avoid Cockroaches In Home

Roaches can be found anywhere in the home, but they mostly hide in the kitchen to get constant food and water supply from there.

Also, cockroaches tend to hide in cracks, holes, or pipes.

However, there are spaces in the home where the chances are high that you might find cockroaches.

These spaces are:

• Basements

The perfect dark and warm place for roaches where you might be visiting significantly less – the basement is where you can find cockroaches.

And it can also be the ‘base’ area for roaches to come into your kitchen and other places to get food and water supply and then move here.

• Kitchen And Bathroom

The kitchen is where you prepare food. And the food spills and crumbs can be several weeks of ration for roaches.

And it is why roaches make the kitchen their home. You can locate cockroaches in the kitchen by looking under the sink, around water leakage points, and around dustbins.

Therefore, you must be very careful and aware if cockroaches attack your home. Follow these steps to ensure your home is safe from cockroaches.

Another common place where you can find cockroaches is in the bathroom. Cockroaches can eat anything, and they will not mind even if they get soap or something else to eat.

On top of that, the water source is already there in the bathroom. Hence cockroaches can easily hide here.

And once you locate the colony of cockroaches, you need to jump to the action part quickly to get rid of them.

By Keeping Your Home Clean

Cockroaches are disgusting insects. They can eat anything and live anywhere. From the sewage area to your food plate, they can stay anywhere.

However, their favorites are the dirtiest places, like garbage areas, dustbins, and food spill areas.

And therefore, the best way to avoid cockroaches is to keep your home completely clean. Ensure to have better waste management.

Also, repair the water leakage and clean the area where most food spills happen.

Doing so will not only cut off the food and water resources for roaches, but it will also repulse them to go elsewhere in search of their food resources once you keep your home clean.

Along with these steps, you can repair any cracks or openings in your home, eventually blocking the areas where cockroaches can hide.

Once you take these precautionary steps, you will have a cockroach-free house eliminating them.

By Using Pesticides In Home

Keeping your home clean is the first step to avoiding cockroaches.

But pesticide or pest control in your home ensures that your home is entirely pest-free (including cockroaches).

There are two ways by which you can clean your room by using chemical agents or pesticides:

• Get professional pest control
• Do it yourself

Depending upon your need, you can go for either of the options. But in case of cockroach infestation in your home, you must seek professional help.

Getting a professional exterminator can eliminate the roach infestation from your home.

However, if your house has few to no cockroaches, you can use pesticides to clean your house and eliminate even slight chances of cockroaches taking place in your home.

If your home is roach-free, you can take it as a precautionary step to kill other bugs hiding and reduce any chances of roaches coming into the house.

However, doing this step by yourself is a tedious task.

Also, if you are using any chemical agent to get rid of roaches or to avoid them, then you need to keep these things in mind:

• Avoid the chemical agent from your edible stuff, especially when using these chemicals in the kitchen.
• Ensure to keep the chemical agent away from children if you have any in your home, as these chemical agents have potent toxins which can cause skin issues and other problems.
• While spraying or applying pesticide, protect yourself, especially with eyes and skin contact, to avoid problems.

So, these are the steps you can take to avoid cockroaches in your home. However, roaches are not limited to your living room or kitchen only.

They can even infest your car, so let’s examine how you can avoid cockroaches in a vehicle.

Avoid Cockroaches In A Car

Apart from your home, your car is also vulnerable to roaches nowadays.

Cockroaches can quickly infest your car if you are not taking precautionary steps. So let’s have a detailed look at the factors you should consider to avoid cockroaches in a vehicle.

Don’t Eat In Your Car

It is a prevalent mistake we all make – eating in our car. Whether we go on a long drive or pick someone, the eating habit in our vehicle can invite cockroaches.

If not cleaned, the food spills or crumbs can become rations for cockroaches. On top of that, your car has several ideal places for cockroaches to hide.

Cockroaches can hide in the AC vents, space between seats, under the seats, or the car dash. And once they make your car their home, you will have to put a lot of effort into getting them out.

However, if cockroaches have already infested your car, you can read our step-by-step guide on eliminating cockroaches from your vehicle.

Overall, it is a must that you don’t eat in your car. Otherwise, cockroaches can infest your car severely.

Even if you eat in your car once in a while, you need to keep your car clean, which is your next prudent step to avoid cockroaches in a vehicle.

Keep Your Car Clean

Car is another home. And as you keep your home clean, you must also clean your car.

Not because to impress someone or to flex or show your love for your car but also to avoid insects such as cockroaches that might make it their home.

You might be eating in your car or spilling food items, drinks, or stuff, but in the end, you also need to clean your vehicle.

Cleaning the car will help you reduce the chances of roaches coming there and looking for their rations.

And on top of that, regularly cleaning your car will also prevent any infestation that might be taking place in your absence.

Use Cleaning Agent

The above steps are significant if you take precautionary measures to avoid cockroaches, but what if your car already has some?

Or, in the worst case, if roaches have already infested your car, then what should you do?

You need to clean your car using cockroach bait or a cleaning agent to eliminate the roaches, but it is not that easy.

You must first take out the seat from your car and perform the cleaning task, but it is not that simple.

Therefore, we have made a special guide for you on How To Get Rid Of Cockroaches In A Car?

You can read the guide to get rid of cockroaches or avoid these tiny insects from your car.

Problems That Occur Due To Cockroaches

Having cockroaches, whether in the home or in a car, leads to several problems.

Besides scaring you with their random appearance, cockroaches in your kitchen can contaminate food items, leading to health problems.

Also, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), cockroaches carry bacteria that, if deposited in food, can cause several health issues like salmonella, staphylococcus, and streptococcus.

Apart from this, even the World Health Organization (WHO) considers cockroaches a crucial insect to carry intestinal diseases like dysentery, diarrhea, cholera, and typhoid fever.

Cockroach Allergy

According to a 2012 article published in the journal allergy, asthma & immunology research, cockroaches are found to be one of the most common sources of indoor allergens.  

The cockroaches carry certain enzymes in the excrement, shredding body parts, eggs, and saliva that cause allergic reactions in people.

Also, according to EPA, children are even more susceptible to cockroach allergies than adults.

Therefore, having cockroaches at home can become a significant reason for issues for people with allergies.

Health Issues

Cockroaches infestation in the kitchen can lead to food contamination and several health issues.

It is why roach infestation must be treated ASAP.

Otherwise, cockroaches bring several health problems, as discussed below:

Salmonella

As said earlier, cockroaches can bring bacteria, leading to allergic reactions.

However, roaches have been even scarier and can also be a reason for severe diseases like salmonella.

Salmonella can cause typhoid fever, gastroenteritis, and dysentery leading to severe diarrhea; therefore, you need to be careful with these tiny insects.

Enterococcus

It causes meningitis and urinary tract infections in the body, which enter through cockroach-contaminated particular objects.

It is why having roaches in the home is dangerous.

Asthma & Allergy

Cockroaches and their residues (whether their eggs or something else) can also be a strong point for triggering allergic reactions and asthma.

The saliva, feces, and shedding body parts of cockroaches are what that can trigger these allergic reactions

• Coughing
• Nasal congestion
• Wheezing
• Ear infection
• Skin rash
• Sinus infection

E. Coli

It is a bacteria that causes food poisoning and is passed in the kitchen where raw food gets prepared.

A cockroach can pick up E. coli bacteria from raw chicken and then spread this around the home resulting in food poisoning.

And you already know the outcomes due to food poisoning. It can cause diarrhea and several other health issues.

Who Is Most At Risk Of Health Problems Caused By Cockroaches?

Not everyone is indeed allergic to roaches. But due to bacteria spread due to these tiny insects, some people are more prone to issues that these cockroaches create.

Also, some people are more sensitive to cockroaches. The most at-risk group has one thing in common: the immune system is not working at its peak.

Therefore, it makes it more difficult for those people to fight the illness.

These groups of people can be categorized in this way:

• Adults of age 65 and older
• Chronically ill or immunocompromised adults
• Young children of age five or under

So, these people might be more vulnerable due to cockroach allergies or other issues they create.

Therefore, if you have these people in your home, you must keep cockroaches away. And even if your house got a roach infestation somehow, you need to get rid of it quickly.

FAQs

Cockroach Phobia: Deal With Ease!

It can produce nearly the same symptoms as that Claustrophobia. That means it is one of the common fears that people have.

Therefore, you are not alone or the one to have cockroach anxiety disorder or fear.

Hence, in most cases, one should not worry until or unless the fear is not a ‘phobia’ and one faces severe symptoms.

Even if you have a phobia, you can overcome your fear in multiple ways.

You can opt for self-help, group help, and even therapy if you need it. However, remember that these tiny insects should not control your life.