Everyone hates to open the shower curtain and see a centipede darting around or lift up a box only to have a roach scurry out across your foot.  Finding pests in your home is never a pleasant experience, but many common household pests pose serious health risks to you and your family.  Here’s a helpful list of what kind of risks these intruders may cause.

1. Food Contamination

This can occur in a variety of ways and by many different types of pests.  Rodents will take any chance they find to get into your food, and when they do they can leave behind diseases such as salmonella, which can then be spread to humans when you unsuspectingly eat the contaminated products. Many pantry pests such as flour beetles and Indian meal moths will develop into infestations inside products including cereals and corn meal. Pantry pests don’t typically spread diseases, but they can spoil your food.

2. Allergies

Humans can have allergies to pests and pests can also aggravate existing allergies of humans. Rodents and cockroaches are known to commonly cause asthma when they exist inside your home.

3. Disease Spreading

This is clearly the most serious health risk posed by pests.  There is an endless list of pests that carry and transmit diseases to humans, but there are a few that are very prevalent that deserve special attention.  Mosquitoes are major pests that irritate Americans from coast to coast, but they also carry diseases such as Malaria and West Nile Virus.  There are several species of ticks around the country and they are also known to transmit diseases such as Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Tularemia, Colorado tick fever and more. Leptospirosis is another disease that can be transmitted by household pests, namely rodents.  Chances are you’ve never heard of this disease, because it is relatively rare in humans, but when it does occur it is a very serious problem.

As if the general unpleasantness of pests being in your home isn’t enough, the dangers they pose should be reason enough to practice good pest control habits and enlist the help of a pest control expert should you find yourself facing pests in your home.