Eat a cockroach Cockroaches are dangerous insects that are carriers of severe infectious diseases. Living next to a person, they endanger all residents of an apartment or house. Life is full of surprises and sometimes the most incredible events happen. What will happen if you eat a cockroach: perhaps a gag reflex, psychological discomfort, the possibility of contracting a number of diseases, in rare cases an allergic reaction, the cockroach itself will be digested along with other food and will not be able to survive.
What happens if you swallow a cockroach
Cockroaches are dangerous insects that are carriers of severe infectious diseases. Living next to a person, they endanger all residents of an apartment or house. Life is full of surprises and sometimes the most incredible events happen. What will happen if you eat a cockroach: perhaps a gag reflex, psychological discomfort, the possibility of contracting a number of diseases, in rare cases an allergic reaction, the cockroach itself will be digested along with other food and will not be able to survive.
What do cockroaches eat?
Pests are practically omnivorous, this is due to the structure of their mouthparts. Cockroaches living in apartments, namely black and red ones, will eat leftover food on tables, shelves, and cabinets. If they have a choice in food, they will give preference to those that are enriched with carbohydrates and proteins; it can be mentioned that in houses cockroaches are lovers of sugar. When there is no food left near the cockroaches, they can eat small insects, human feces, or the cockroaches will eat their relatives. Do cockroaches eat people? No.
What happens if you swallow a cockroach
Swallowing an insect is not such an out of the ordinary event. A precedent can happen to anyone while running, laughing, roller skating, even while talking, a bug can fly into the mouth. The likelihood of eating a live cockroach, even if proper attention to sanitation and hygiene at home, is low.
In most cases, a swallowed insect is not a cause for much concern. It is hypothesized that the Prussian eaten is nothing more than an additional portion of protein. This may be true, but the fact that you had to eat a live parasite is unpleasant in itself. The domestic cockroach is neither clean nor picky in its eating. His habitat is far from the standard. Once in the human stomach, a live cockroach carrying many bacteria on its legs and body can cause the following diseases:
- diphtheria;
- tuberculosis;
- hepatitis;
- dysentery;
- salmonellosis and other troubles.
Serious consequences are possible for people who have eaten a live red deer and are allergic to certain proteins that make up the body of arthropods.
What harm can cockroaches cause?
2015-08-16 City Disinfection Station
There is a common misconception that there is no great harm from domestic cockroaches other than the fact that these parasites are unpleasant. However, for all the harm to human health caused by cockroaches, there is even a separate name - blattopterosis. They are dangerous and cause natural harm - cockroaches bite, carry diseases, and cause allergies. The only thing that can be done about this is to promptly remove domestic parasites. Damage caused by cockroaches in the home can be divided into three categories:
- harm to health and physical discomfort;
- material damage;
- aesthetic discomfort.
Harm to human health
Cockroaches can seriously harm human health in several ways:
- mechanically spread the infection;
- biting and biting the epidermis;
- as a foreign body;
- allergic reaction.
Cockroach bites
Allergy to cockroach bite
They really bite. When they have no access to food and water, angry parasites are most dangerous: they begin to attack people while they are sleeping. They bite people and gnaw off the skin from the lips and areas around the nails and eyes. They can also gnaw the skin in the nasolabial triangle of a small child, gnaw ears and eyelashes, and bite calluses. Cockroaches are the most dangerous for children. It doesn’t matter what kind of cockroaches you have, black or white, anyone can start biting.
Cockroach bites appear as red, inflamed spots on the skin. The wounds that form from bites can become infected and become infected. The skin then becomes crusty and takes a very long time to heal. Prussian bites are also painful. Red and black cockroaches living in the house have mouthparts that are perfectly adapted for biting and gnawing. They can search for food debris on the human body, absorb saliva and feed on excrement. There is nothing pleasant about this, and if the bite is also left untreated, you will have to deal with the consequences for a long time.
Allergy to cockroaches
Domestic cockroaches are also dangerous because they cause allergies: allergens most likely come from food into which a cockroach has crawled or otherwise entered. Waste from parasites can be delivered by airborne droplets, and allergies can also be caused by a cockroach bite.
If you are allergic to cockroaches, the following symptoms will help you understand:
- runny nose, nasal congestion;
- cough, sneezing;
- eye irritation, tearing;
- skin rashes.
An allergic reaction to cockroaches in the home can cause a person to develop asthmatic symptoms or worsen existing asthma.
Transfer of infection
Domestic cockroaches are mechanical carriers of various infections and cause the spread of dangerous diseases. They crawl through garbage, sewers, nothing is forbidden for them in the most disgusting places of buildings. They can eat excrement, including from sick people. They carry pathogenic bacteria that cause diarrhea, typhus or dysentery, as well as more dangerous diseases. In addition to them, they carry additional parasites, for example, worm eggs. Human infection can occur:
- when eating food that has been walked on by an infected cockroach;
- for cockroach bites;
- when a cockroach is swallowed or enters the body in any other way.
Foreign body
It is not uncommon for a cockroach to enter the human body. They crawl into the ear, can enter through the nose or mouth while a person is sleeping, or even be swallowed in food. Most often, doctors are approached with the problem that a red or black cockroach has crawled into the ear.
Once in the ear, the cockroach cannot get out the same way it got in. It will move, scratch and damage the eardrum, causing the person severe pain. A cockroach in the ear can cause an infection. Damage to the eardrum in the ear along with introduced bacteria can subsequently lead to serious illnesses. Also, a cockroach in the ear may eventually die and dry out: you will have to wash it out with a special solution from a doctor.
If a cockroach gets into your ear, you can tell by the painful sensations. When you can’t see a doctor right away, you can remove it from your ear yourself. What to do if a parasite gets in, you need to do the following:
- The person calms down and lies down so that the ear with the insect is on top.
- The ear slowly fills with vegetable or baby oil. The oil should be poured into the ear until the cockroach stops moving, and also a couple of minutes after that.
- The oil is drained and the ear is rinsed with warm water until the dead insect comes out.
After self-extraction, you should also go to the doctor and check whether there are any insect particles left inside the ear. A cockroach can also get into your nose, causing a runny nose and pain.
Physical and aesthetic discomfort
The discomfort that some people feel when they see Prussians or black cockroaches next to them can cause great stress and lead to hysterics. Such proximity can cause a nervous breakdown and depression, depending on the person’s nervous excitability. If a person is terribly afraid of cockroaches, such cohabitation will cost him his nerves.
Whatever species settles in your home, the fight against cockroaches should begin as soon as possible. They can cause enormous harm to health.
Author of the material: Vladimir Egorov
Disinfector Experience in the field for more than 7 years
Can a cockroach survive in the stomach?
If you accidentally eat a cockroach, the first thing it does is enter the esophagus. A person will not feel the movement of the whiskers or paws of a living parasite, but will get the impression that a piece of an unchewed apple has been swallowed. Once in the stomach, the insect finds itself in an aggressive acidic environment that can easily dissolve the food it eats. A live cockroach, under the influence of gastric juice, should break down into proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. But Prussians have a durable chitinous shell, which will remain resistant to digestion for a long time.
The absence of tactile endings in the stomach will relieve a person from the sensation of the presence of a live insect in the stomach. There is a high probability that it will suffocate from lack of oxygen during the digestion process.
What to do if you accidentally swallow a cockroach
Once in the oral cavity, food is coated with saliva, which is an enzyme for digestion and a special “lubricant” for easy sliding down the esophagus. If the insect is not sufficiently treated with the substance, then it will not be possible to swallow a live cockroach. The body will instantly react to a foreign object with a gag reflex. The eaten Prussian will not have time to reach the stomach and will fly out of the mouth with other food.
What to do if you accidentally had to eat a live cockroach:
- rinse the stomach with a weak solution of potassium permanganate;
- take disinfectant (absorbent) drugs.
It is necessary to respond in a timely manner to the appearance of parasites in the apartment. Modern insecticides, as well as other techniques, will quickly get rid of dangerous pests. Compliance with basic food storage rules will provide reliable protection for a person from an unpleasant incident.
Source
Allergic reactions to cockroaches
Cockroaches in an apartment can be a serious threat for people prone to allergies. During molting, insects leave a large amount of chitin, as well as cockroach secretions and their feces. Dead cockroaches, mixed with dust and dirt that accumulates in the corners of the apartment, if they get into the nose and lungs, as well as onto the human skin, into the gastrointestinal tract, can provoke severe allergic reactions.
Allergies caused by cockroaches can become chronic. Watery eyes, nasal discharge, tickling in the nose, itching, skin rashes - all this is the result of a person being with cockroaches for a long time, which emit a large number of different types of allergens. In the case of long-term persistent allergies on the mucous membranes, complications in the form of polyps may appear, or even the development of asthmatic symptoms, breathing problems, sore throat and coughing. All these symptoms interfere with a full life and reduce its quality.
If there is a dense population of cockroaches in the house, there is a possibility of an unpleasant odor. Getting rid of this smell is only possible with complete removal of insects. After disinsection of the premises, you need to carry out a general cleaning and remove traces and corpses of cockroaches that accumulate in electrical appliances, microwave ovens, refrigerators and tape recorders, behind baseboards and in hoods.
These red barbels, on top of everything else, really spoil food. They don’t eat them, but spoil them. Five hundred cockroaches can eat about five kilograms of food per year. It doesn't seem like much. But if you imagine that this cockroach was just recently crawling in the sewer pipes, and now it has crawled into your plate, would you want to eat from it? The same can be said about other food products. If you regularly see cockroaches in your kitchen, then we can safely say that they have managed to visit most of your products, which you did not have time to eat or forgot to cover and put in the refrigerator. This means that they can be thrown away. Most of all, cockroaches love sweets, cakes, pastries, apples, crackers and other sweets. It also happens that cockroaches can be found even in the refrigerator, and then the question must be raised about the suitability of all these products for consumption. At a minimum, before eating these foods, they need to be washed or thoroughly heated and fried.
What happens if you eat a cockroach
Insects crawl on different surfaces. They do just as well inside a dirty garbage disposal as they do in a clean kitchen at home. However, bacteria, viral particles, and helminth eggs linger on the chitinous covers. Insects spread them everywhere they go. When moving, pathogenic particles remain on all surfaces. In addition, not only human products, but also organic remains, substances, and objects act as food for these pests.
If an infected cockroach enters the body, then all the bacteria, viruses, and helminth eggs will also find themselves in a suitable environment for reproduction and increased activity. In addition, the contents of the insect’s digestive organs also leave much to be desired. However, not everything is as hopeless as it may seem. If a person swallows a cockroach, there is a chance that harmful microorganisms will not be able to develop and will die. It is believed that longhorned beetles are nothing more than a portion of protein, so swallowing an insect is sometimes beneficial.
for the most part concerns insects specially raised or caught in clean areas of forest areas.
What happens if you swallow a cockroach
Pests have hard outer coverings. This is one of the ways to protect against mechanical damage and attacks from natural enemies. There is also a hard shell. But in domestic individuals it is not as tough as, for example, in exotic giant insects. These cockroaches have a large body, covered with a rounded shell that is difficult to crush.
House insects are smaller and softer. If they are swallowed, they will easily pass through the esophagus without injuring it. But a living pest can resist: it will cling with its limbs and mouthparts. These actions will go unnoticed if, while still in the oral apparatus, the insect is covered with saliva, which will facilitate its passage through the esophagus.
Are all species dangerous?
Today there are many varieties of cockroaches. Some of them pose a danger to human health, and some are practically harmless insects. The threat to humans comes from red, black and American cockroaches.
The most common parasites are red in color; they pose a great danger to people. These insects reach a length of up to one and a half centimeters, their wings exceed the body parameters in size. The red-haired parasite has long mustaches, which are needed to communicate with its fellows and navigate in space. A cockroach cannot live without its whiskers.
Black cockroaches that settle in homes also pose a danger to people. Their length can vary from 2 to 5 centimeters. The body is black or dark gray in color and has a noticeable metallic sheen. The wing size of females is slightly smaller than that of males. Moreover, the body of females is larger and can reach 5 centimeters.
The American cockroach is similar to the red cockroach; their body is larger - approximately 5 centimeters. Females are slightly larger than males. A distinctive feature of this type of longhorned beetle is the horizontally located dark brown stripes on the back. This sign helps to distinguish dangerous insects if a person is overcome by doubts about their safety.
What to do if this happens and you accidentally swallow a cockroach
risk of infection, it is still better to take precautions.
You should not think long about the question of what to do if you eat a cockroach, this leads to a loss of time. You need to react to the situation quickly. Moreover, the sequence of actions cannot be disrupted. It is necessary to first rinse the stomach and then remove the remaining pathogenic particles using sorbents, but not vice versa. The actions are the same for everyone: children, adults. This is how they provide first aid and help those who do not immediately understand what they have eaten.
Dead cockroaches that are “suitable” for food
Lifespan, eggs and how they reproduce
Development of a cockroach from egg to adult
Where there is food and water, there will always be cockroaches. They don't need much to survive and reproduce. Cockroaches reproduce sexually and quickly. Starting with mating games, cockroaches mate.
The female lays cockroach eggs in special bags. Different types of cockroaches deal with eggs in different ways: some carry them with them, others hide them in secluded places. The embryos hatch after 2 weeks and the larvae develop. They molt several times. And then different individuals develop.
The lifespan of domestic cockroaches depends on the availability of water and food near them. In apartments, cockroaches live longer and breed more often.
The lifespan of cockroaches ranges from four months to four years.
Cockroaches as food
Insects are part of the diet
many peoples for a long time. This is an additional source of protein.
If you eat a portion of this product, the need for meat dishes is reduced. Most often, these insects are consumed in places where not all residents can afford high-quality food, as well as in those parts of the planet where natural resources are already depleted or have never been rich (China, Thailand, Vietnam).
But many people eat cockroaches without knowing it. For example, in the production of cocoa powder, raw materials (cocoa beans) are used, which cannot be completely purified from insects. Some species of cockroaches also live on trees, bushes, and other plantings. We are talking about herbivorous individuals - exotic, not domestic insects. This means that people consume a certain amount of such individuals, albeit in ground form.
crushed chitin cover is considered acceptable according to the standards for the production of such a product.
How to cook cockroaches
In China, the main rule is the variety of cooking methods, and not the fact of careful selection of products. For this reason, they consume various insects and their larvae. But it is important to cook cockroaches correctly. Recommendations:
- insects are pre-frozen;
- insects must be washed and dried before cooking.
- remove limbs, head;
- it is important to free the digestive tract from food debris and excrement, for which they press on the abdomen;
Features of cooking Madagascar cockroaches
The main rules for this:
- they use garlic and butter, due to which a more pleasant aroma appears and the chitinous covers are softened;
- the dish must be salted;
- add spices: most often red and black pepper, but others are also possible, this will help improve the taste of the finished product;
- According to other recipes, insects are fried until crispy.
Insecticide poisoning in an apartment, premises
HERE you can familiarize yourself with the preparation rules and recommendations after disinsection that should be followed to avoid poisoning. The destruction of insects takes place in the absence of people and pets. You can enter an apartment and other types of premises only after thorough ventilation, for at least one hour in the absence of people and animals. Next, you need to wet clean the contact areas and the working surface with a soap and soda solution while wearing gloves.
The danger of poisoning from disinfestation drugs depends on many factors. This includes the duration of contact with the insecticide, the nature of the compound, the degree of toxicity and careful preparation before disinfection. The EXPERT sanitary service uses low-hazard products in its work, which belong to class IV according to GOST 12.1.007-76. A slight local irritant effect may occur after single contact with skin.
In this article we will look at how poisoning by insecticides of various chemical groups occurs, what the symptoms are, and first aid.
How to poison cockroaches without getting poisoned yourself
There are rules to avoid intoxication for a person who has eaten domestic insects:
- treatment with insecticidal preparations is carried out while wearing a mask;
- you should work in rubber gloves, a hat and closed clothing;
- after the procedure is completed, textile items are washed;
- It is recommended to rinse the oral cavity and nose with water;
- insecticides are destroyed by alkali, so you should wash your hands with soap.
Expert advice
- before eating, look at what is on the plate, I know many cases when insects got into the mouth this way, even in public catering places;
- if you suspect that you have swallowed an insect, you need to rinse your stomach, and then be sure to drink the sorbent;
- For prevention, you should not take medications that are prescribed for intestinal infections; people usually take them to reduce the risk of developing the disease, but at the same time, the beneficial intestinal microflora also suffers, so I do not recommend doing this.
Prejudice or real danger
The fact that cockroaches do not attack a person, do not drink his blood at night, as bed bugs do, and do not eat fur and woolen things, does not mean that they are cute and completely harmless insects. People get used to their proximity and in most cases do not take emergency measures to destroy them.
They treat these insects as an unpleasant reality, from time to time they make attempts, but if they fail, they take a break, and return to this issue only when there are a lot of insects.
In the morning, no one will notice that someone has already eaten the cookies in the vase and at the same time trampled on them with dirty feet that had previously run through the garbage chute, and through the basement, and through the cat litter box. In addition, cockroaches can also cause physical inconvenience. Often, when asked whether cockroaches bite, you can hear a negative answer, but bites from cockroaches are not that uncommon.
