What cockroaches bite humans and how to treat bites?

For the common man, cockroaches are ordinary human companions who cause significant discomfort with their presence. However, biologists know more than 4.5 thousand species of these arthropods (55 in Russia).

In addition to hygienic harm, these arthropods pose a threat to health, not only indirectly, but also directly. In this article, the reader will learn about the dangers of a cockroach bite and what negative consequences it can have.

A hungry red cockroach can bite through human skin

Can cockroaches bite humans?

In the 60s of the last century, American scientists conducted a study to find out whether cockroaches bite under certain circumstances. During the study, it was discovered that longhorned beetles, due to their body structure (gnawing mouthparts and strong jaws), can bite people.

The special structure of the digestive apparatus allows insects to survive in conditions close to extreme. Prussians consume and process almost any food, including solid and seemingly unfit for consumption.

The digestive system of cockroaches successfully copes with paper, leather clothing and shoes, and soap.

Eyewitness stories about how at night cockroaches, emerging from their hiding places, attack sleeping people and leave inflamed wounds on the body that do not heal for a long time, are popular.

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Can a cockroach get into your ear and how to get it out?

Quite often you can hear horror stories about cockroaches crawling into a person’s ear and causing terrible, unbearable pain. And these are not just horror stories. From time to time, doctors are faced with the fact that they have to remove dangerous insects from the ears. Often people themselves cannot get rid of the insect in the ear canal. A cockroach, once in a narrow place, cannot turn around and go back out. But this insect cannot walk backwards. As a result, a living cockroach moves its legs and whiskers, tries to get out of a narrow tunnel, constantly touches the eardrum, and this can cause:

• unbearable pain;
• dizziness;
• nausea;
• noise in ears;
• loss of consciousness.

If there is a person nearby who can help, then it is necessary to lay the victim on the bed with the ear, where the stuck cockroach sits, facing up. Then you should carefully pour warm water into the ear. It can push the insect out.

The second method of removing a Prussian from the auricle is to drip liquid oil into the ear canal - vegetable oil, olive oil, or any cosmetic oil without too strong a smell will do. When the oil blocks the insect's airways, it will suffocate. And then you can carefully remove the cockroach with tweezers. In this case, you need to pay attention to ensure that the individual is completely removed.

Sometimes a cockroach, if it has penetrated shallowly into the ear, can fall out on its own if you jump on one leg with your head tilted to the side.

You should not use a vacuum cleaner (yes, some craftsmen use it to remove a foreign body from the ear), use matches or cotton swabs - the situation can only worsen. Using these methods you can immerse the insect even deeper.

If there is no one nearby who can help you remove the cockroach from your ear, you need to contact an ENT doctor. If the pain becomes unbearable, you can call an ambulance - yes, sometimes the situation becomes very serious, especially when it comes to children.

What species bite

Many people are interested in whether cockroaches that appear in the house can bite a person and whether the ability of insects to be aggressive depends on the type of pest. Scientists say there is no direct relationship.

Any representative of the cockroach order can bite, especially if there is no access to food:

• The most common and often found in people's homes, Prussians bite if they are hungry or thirsty. Domestic cockroaches are more likely to bite at night, when humans pose the least danger. Longhorned beetles don’t just bite, they eat the skin around the mouth and eyes. Thus, cockroaches look for moisture remaining in food crumbs or accumulated in the lacrimal glands.
• Black representatives of longhorned beetles are dangerous during times of food and water shortage. In search of food, they, like their red relatives, can bite a person.
• The American cockroach, smaller in size compared to the Prussians, is also capable of harming humans. The consequences of a bite from an American longhorned beetle are worse than the consequences of damage to the skin by a red or black cockroach.
• Harmless-looking Egyptian pests also bite. Egyptian bites often cause severe allergic reactions.

Do cockroaches bite painfully?

The degree of pain from the bite depends on your level of pain tolerance. There is an interesting study that cockroaches can bite with a force 50 times stronger than its own body weight. Cockroaches mainly bite nails and eyelashes, which is why people do not perceive pain. Most people believe that cockroaches do not bite painfully; they only feel slight discomfort for a few seconds. Some people don't notice the bite at all until the itching begins.

In any case, you should not scratch the bite site. If cockroaches have bitten a child, it is better to apply anti-itch cream to the affected area so that he does not scratch it.

Treatment of the affected area

If you have marks from an insect bite on your body, before deciding what to do about the bite, you need to find out which insect caused the skin damage. Bedbugs, as a rule, leave characteristic marks in the form of an itchy, intensely itchy stripe.

This effect from a bedbug bite is observed as a result of the influence of special substances in the saliva of bedbugs on the body cells. Prussians leave small open wounds in places where human skin is most delicate.

If you know for sure that a person has been bitten by a cockroach, and the wound does not heal within one day, you need to consult a dermatologist. The doctor will examine the bite site and prescribe treatment appropriate to the problem.

If there is a strong local reaction, allergy sufferers must take an antihistamine.

Sometimes you can’t get an appointment with a doctor. Then traditional medicine methods become relevant. Fresh plantain or raw potatoes, ground to a mushy state, will relieve inflammation. Tea compresses have a similar effect.

First aid after bites

Patients often delay visiting a medical facility for one reason or another. It is important to know what emergency measures need to be taken if a cockroach bite occurs.

First of all, the wound must be disinfected. Hydrogen peroxide, chlorhexidine solution, or another alcohol-containing product are ideal. And an antihistamine taken on time will relieve severe itching after an insect bite.

It is not recommended to apply brilliant green solution to the affected area. Otherwise, the development of purulent processes is likely.

Zelenka complicates further examination of the bite site in order to identify hyperemia and an inflammatory process.

What to do with cockroaches in an apartment?

There are many anti-cockroach products on the market today. I won’t describe each one; this is a topic for a separate article. It is important to remember one thing - if the number of cockroaches in an apartment has increased to impressive sizes, the best thing that can be done is to call the sanitary and epidemiological service. This is not an advertisement, this is a recommendation.

Complete treatment of residential premises with professional insecticides will help cope with the problem. Independent control of cockroaches is relevant only if the colony size is small. In other cases, you should seek help from specialists.

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The danger of cockroach bites

Human skin is a rather dense natural material, but the powerful jaws of the Prussian dog can seriously damage it. It has been proven that the bite force of a cockroach is more than 4 times stronger than that of a human.

It is easy to recognize traces of exposure to the skin of a barbel. Unlike blood-sucking insects, which leave behind only a puncture, or bedbugs, whose distinctive feature of contact with a person is a stripe of bites, the Prussian leaves behind a characteristic wound.

By morning, the damaged area, as a rule, has time to become covered with a crust, and around there is hyperemia of the skin, less often a blister, or swelling. Reactions are especially strong after the bite of “exotic”, American and Egyptian species.

The consequences of contact of the pest's mouthparts and saliva with human skin are not limited to small wounds, but are papular, purulent rashes accompanied by severe pain.

Local reactions of the body are not the only danger of contact with insects. A special protein, tropomyosin, found in barbel saliva can provoke a severe allergic reaction in people prone to allergies. So, after being bitten by a Germanic dog, many patients experienced hives, irritation, and sometimes suffocation.

Cockroaches are notorious for carrying various infections. When barbel saliva comes into contact with human blood, there is a risk of contracting serious infectious diseases, including dysentery and tuberculosis.

It is known that the presence of Prussians in the homes of some people can provoke asthma attacks.

Do cockroaches carry diseases?

Cockroaches can spread dangerous diseases. The World Health Organization states that cockroaches are carriers of several intestinal diseases such as dysentery, diarrhea, cholera and typhoid.

It is important to remember that cockroaches are omnivores; they feed on food when they crawl through sewers, drains, and garbage. They eat feces. Cockroaches crawl after “traveling” through your food, and this is where infection is possible. The same is true during a bite. Cockroaches can carry helminth eggs and can infect you. For people with allergies, cockroaches can cause swelling in the eyelid, dermatitis, itching and asthma.

Prevention of bites

Cockroaches are not just unpleasant neighbors, but also carriers of infections that can bite humans. We must try to prevent insects from appearing indoors.

For this it is enough:

• keep the house clean;
• store food in containers with walls inaccessible to damage by insects;
• eliminate stagnation of water in flowerpots;
• if necessary, treat the barbel penetration routes with special means.

If prevention does not help, cockroaches appear inside the house, it is better to contact a specialized company engaged in pest control of premises. Exterminators, using professional insect control products, will clear the house of uninvited guests quickly and effectively.

You can try to get rid of cockroaches yourself, using traditional methods of fighting barbels. The most popular is a solution based on boric acid, honey and sugar. Poisons sold in stores are effective - gels, aerosols (Raptor), special crayons, powders, smoke bombs.

How to protect yourself from cockroach attacks

What to do to prevent cockroaches from biting? There is only one effective advice on how to protect yourself from cockroach bites - get rid of them completely. This can be done independently, or you can also involve employees of specialized enterprises, for example. The employees of this company work with professional insecticidal preparations that are highly effective and safe for people and pets.

Typically, professional cockroach removal is carried out using two methods:

• cold fog;
• hot fog.

In the first case, substances containing insecticides are sprayed using special equipment. When treating with hot fog, the procedure for killing insects is almost the same, only in this case the preparation is heated to high temperatures.

The smallest droplets of professional product penetrate into the most inaccessible places - into cracks, gaps, holes. Such treatment not only destroys adult individuals, but also affects all egg-laying insects.

Important point: After treating rooms using the cold or hot fog method, an invisible protective film is created on the surface of walls, floors, and furniture. It serves as a preventive barrier to the emergence of new insects. They will not come for a long time to the place where sanitary treatment and destruction of insects was carried out.

But how to protect yourself from cockroach bites if there is no way to poison them in a timely manner? For example, did you find yourself in a hotel where insects live, in a holiday home, or simply in your apartment the measures taken did not give the desired effect? We recommend that you contact the professionals in our company, here you can find out prices for exterminating cockroaches.

In these cases, the following recommendations should be followed:

1. Do not allow food, crumbs, or fat to get into the sleeping area. Simply put, you shouldn't eat in bed.
2. Keep your bed linen clean and change it regularly.
3. Take a shower before bed. Cockroaches usually crawl based on smells, and the aromas of an unwashed body are very attractive to them.
4. Use a spray, cream or gel that repels insects for protection.
5. If possible, treat the floor near the bed with an insecticidal pencil. It is enough to draw lines around the sleeping area, and then the cockroaches will be afraid to climb onto the bed.
6. You can leave the light on in the bedroom - cockroaches love to attack people when it is dark.

Cleanliness in the house, absence of garbage, sealing of all cracks, proper sewage system, ventilation protected by a fine mesh - all this helps to fight harmful insects.

Myths about cockroaches

The most ancient insects, cockroaches, which are described in literature and folk epics, have given rise to many different legends.

For example, there is a very common misconception that cockroaches are highly resistant to radiation and can carry radioactive contamination. Is it really?

If your pet cockroaches go to a nuclear power plant at night and are exposed to radiation, then yes, they can transmit radiation to humans. But where can domestic cockroaches get a dose in a city or at a summer cottage if there is no ionizing radiation nearby? And especially those insects that do not leave your house? So this myth is shattered.

Another popular misconception is that a cockroach bite can cause anaphylactic shock.

But the whole point is that the cockroach, unlike bees, wasps, scorpions and other stinging insects, does not inject a special liquid into the human body. Therefore, there is no risk of anaphylactic shock after a Prussian bite.

But cockroach bites can cause a serious allergic disorder, especially in people who are susceptible to allergies. And they are quite capable of triggering an asthma attack.

Prevention and protection measures against harmful insects

As you can see, a cockroach in the house is not only dirt, discomfort, inconvenience and aesthetic unattractiveness. These insects can cause significant harm to a person, seriously affect his health and leave microscopic scars on the body.

That is why it is very important, as soon as uninvited red Prussians appear in the room, to immediately try to get rid of them.

Modern industry offers a large number of products that help destroy cockroaches quickly and effectively. These are various gels, aerosols, sprays, traps, repellers. Do not neglect traditional methods, which are very effective. But it is still better to use the services of a professional pest control company to exterminate cockroaches. This guarantees:

• one hundred percent effect;
• safety for people and pets;
• accuracy during the procedure - furniture and furnishings in the apartment will not be damaged;
• persistent preventive effect.

In any house there should be one owner - a person. And let the cockroaches live somewhere else, but not in the apartment.

Answers to popular questions

Longhorned beetles are insects whose appearance inside the house causes panic and fear. People often have a lot of questions about cockroaches and the dangers they pose. Below are the most popular questions from netizens regarding cockroach-like insects.

In what cases can a cockroach bite?

Longhorn beetles rarely bite. This is due to the fact that it is often not difficult for insects to provide themselves with food and water. In addition, cockroaches are able to survive without a food source for a month or more. But still, cases of bites are not isolated, so you should know why cockroaches can bite a person.

This only happens in the following cases:

• Acute food shortage. However, it is known that cockroaches are able to digest paper, leather goods, fabrics, and it is extremely rare to talk about this insect feeling hungry. However, during a long absence of a food source, Prussians can bite a person.
• Lack of water. But again, it is not difficult for a cockroach to quench its thirst. Condensation on the pipes, drops of water in the washbasin, wet soil in flowerpots, and this insect is the last person to go to as a source of moisture.
• A huge number of cockroaches inside the home. In such situations, the insect may go to other rooms in order to find food for itself, and the risk that the Prussian will crawl into bed with a sleeping person and bite him is great.

From the above it is clear that cockroaches prefer to avoid people. In modern houses, insects always have something to eat, and they don’t want to attack people at all.

What does a cockroach bite look like?

The consequences of contact between the jaws of a German and human skin depend on the type of insect.

• Black cockroaches leave serious damage. After contact with them, an allergic reaction is possible. The damaged area, as a rule, does not itch or bleed.
• The bite of red cockroaches leaves a small, uneven wound on a person, which after a while becomes covered with a crust. Sometimes in people prone to allergic reactions, the bite site becomes inflamed and red, but itching, as a rule, is not observed.
• Regarding the American relative of the Prussians, contact with this type of insect can provoke not only a small wound, but also a rash in the area of ​​skin damage, the appearance of blisters and ulcers. The bite site may be very painful.

How do cockroaches bite?

Insects eat almost everything thanks to their powerful oral apparatus: Prussians have strong sickle-shaped jaws with jagged teeth, with chitinous teeth located in them, with which cockroaches bite.

In the absence of normal food, paper, leather goods and other materials become suitable for consumption. Human skin is no exception. By acting on it with jowls with teeth. A cockroach pinches off pieces of human dermis.

If there is a shortage of food, it will not be difficult for the pest to gnaw human skin.

The place from the bite looks exactly gnawed, and not, for example, pierced.

How to treat a bite site

It is necessary to treat the wound with an alcohol solution, hydrogen peroxide or chlorhyxedine , and then with anti-inflammatory ointment. If itching or allergic reactions occur, the bite should be treated with an antihistamine. To avoid infection, the bite site should not be scratched.

The next step is to apply an ointment that can relieve irritation. This recipe is known from traditional medicine. The paste is made from plantain or raw potatoes.

Black or green tea lotions can help. Allergy sufferers should definitely take an antihistamine. It’s best not to self-medicate and immediately visit a dermatologist.

Based on the results of my own work and colleagues from parazit.guru, apest.ru

Prevention and prevention of cockroaches

• Regular removal of garbage from the apartment (preferably daily);
• All food products must be refrigerated;
• Cleaning surfaces after preparing or eating food;
• Minor repairs to the premises: sealing cracks near risers, windows, pipes, in the door area; sealing gaps, grooves and cracks in walls;
• Thorough cleaning and washing of places where cockroaches were found;
• Water taps should be turned off at night, and bathtubs and washbasins should be kept dry.

In case of infection, the first step is to remove all food from the cupboards and into the refrigerator. Then check the possible habitats: in the evening and at night, examine cracks, cracks in heated places near water sources - sinks, bathtubs - the space under electrical appliances, near electric motors, behind electrical panels, near electrical wiring, on the back wall and under the refrigerator (in motors). and rubber gaskets), under gas stoves, behind cabinets and shelves, behind heating radiators (in winter), under cooking boilers and behind their casing, under dishwashers, bathtubs and other equipment; inspect the hollow legs of cutting tables, bedside tables, table drawers, door frames, and wardrobes. In case of severe infection, even the computer system unit.

Measuring instruments

The body of a cockroach from the abdomen to the tips of the whiskers is strewn with ultra-sensitive sensors. The antennae, paws and cerci (outgrowths at the end of the abdomen) are covered with hundreds of hairs - sensilla. The latter perceive vibration, sounds and even smells. The sensilla are structured differently: some react to air vibrations, others to bending. Those that smell are permeated with dozens of pores. These holes trap minute amounts of the substance: just a few molecules are enough for the cockroach to recognize the poison or sense the presence of an attractive sexual partner.

Cockroaches often stop to clean their antennae. Scientists from Russia and the USA have found that the glandular cells of the antennae secrete special carbohydrates that increase the sensitivity of the sensilla several times. However, an excess of such compounds clogs the olfactory pores, and as a result, insects have to spend quite a lot of time removing excess of these substances.

When can they bite?

Even knowing about such possibilities of insects, many people continue to doubt that a cockroach can bite them.

The reason for this doubt is that people almost never see how cockroaches bite.

After all, all bites occur only at night. The time that people spend sleeping is the period of maximum activity for cockroaches.

This is understandable: cockroaches are cautious and rather timid insects. They know well that a waking person is a serious danger to them.

Therefore, they quickly and swiftly run away when meeting people. But a sleeping person is not dangerous for them.

There are several reasons why cockroaches may move from the kitchen to the bedroom.

Chemical Substance Database

Cockroaches appeared on Earth about 235 million years ago, and each individual carries with it a store of knowledge accumulated by the cockroach genus during this time. Their DNA is one of the longest among all insects (cockroaches are second only to migratory locusts) and, by the way, longer than humans. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences learned about this feature of supervillains in 2022.

However, what is important is not so much the length as the large number of semantic DNA sections, that is, the genes themselves: cockroaches have over 10 thousand of them. About 150 of them are responsible for the sense of smell, more than 500 for recognizing tastes. Hundreds of other genes are likely involved in chemical analysis. The accumulated evolutionary experience helps cockroaches accurately recognize food and distinguish safe substances from poisonous ones. In addition, the body of insects produces a large number of antidote proteins that serve as an antidote to a wide variety of poisons.

The fossilized remains of a cockroach that lived 30 million years ago. Found in the Dominican Republic