Diseases and Health Issues Caused by Pests

Aside from being a nuisance and causing anxiety, household pests can pose serious risks to your health and wellbeing. Some pests spread diseases through their bite or direct contact with their bodily excretions, while others carry disease-causing pathogens as a result of their dirty nesting and feeding habits.

In this article, we will discuss the various types of diseases caused by pests and how to prevent them. It is important to be aware of what harm pests can cause, so that we can better protect the health of our family and pets.

Illnesses Caused by Pests

The disease and the resulting symptoms will vary depending the type of pest that bit you or you got exposed to. Here are some of the pests that can transmit diseases to humans.

Diseases caused by cockroaches

Cockroaches are carriers of pathogens that cause various diseases. The following are the diseases caused by cockroaches:

• Salmonellosis. It is a disease similar to food poisoning.
• Typhoid fever. It is a highly infectious bacterial infection caused by the Salmonella typhi bacterium.
• Cholera. It is an acute diarrheal infection caused by the Vibrio cholerae bacterium.
• Dysentery. This is a type of gastroenteritis causes diarrhea with blood. There are two types of dysentery: Bacillary dysentery and Amoebic dysentery.
• Leprosy. Cockroaches are suspected as carriers of the bacillus Mycobacterium leprae, which causes leprosy.
• Plague. It is widely believed that the bubonic plague is a rodent-borne disease, but cockroaches are also suspected to be carriers of the Yersinia pestis bacterium, which causes the plague.
• Listeriosis. It is a serious infection caused by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. It is transmitted by consuming contaminated food and drink.
• E. coli infections. Most strains of the E. coli bacteria are harmless, but some can cause serious food poisoning.

Diseases from rodents

• Like termites, rodents not only cause significant property damage, they can cause many diseases, which include:
• Hantavirus. Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome is caused by exposure to the faeces or urine of deer mice.
• Leptospirosis. It is caused by a bacteria called Leptospira, which can infect both humans and animals.
• Plague. It is a serious infection caused by a germ called Yersinia pestis. It can be treated with antibiotics.

Diseases Caused by Ants

• The health risks posed by ants are not as significant as that of mosquitoes or rodents. However, they carry bacterial and fungal organisms that can cause serious diseases.
• Bites and stings. While not a disease, ant bites and stings can cause serious symptoms and health problems brought about by allergic reactions and hypersensitivity to ant venom.
• Food-borne diseases. Ants are known to contaminate food with disease-causing pathogens such as E. coli, Shigella and Salmonella.

Diseases Caused by Mosquitoes

• Mosquitoes bite on the skin of humans and animals to feed on their blood. Their bite can cause many different diseases, some of them fatal.
• Barmah Forest virus. It is a virus transmitted from animals to humans. It is common throughout Australia, particularly around inland waterways and coastal regions.
• Chikungunya virus. It is transmitted through the bite of an infected female Aedes mosquito, which is also the virus responsible for dengue, yellow fever and Zika virus.
• Dengue fever. Similar to a serious cause of the flu, dengue fever is common in tropical and sub-tropical countries like Asia, Africa and South America. In Australia, dengue fever occurs in North Queensland every year when a person gets infected overseas, then a mosquito bites that person, and that mosquito transmit the virus to others.
• Malaria. It is an infection of the red blood cells and can be fatal if not given proper medical attention immediately.
• Ross River virus. It is found all over Australia, but more common in Queensland, Northern Territory and the Kimberley region of Western Australia between January and April, particularly following heavy rains.
• Zika virus. It is transmitted through the species of mosquitoes that also carry the virus for dengue fever and yellow fever. It can also be transmitted through sexual contact.