The Pests Most Likely To Aggravate Your Allergies

Cockroaches

Cockroaches are some of the most common pests to be found in homes in the United States because they can live in a wide range of temperatures. The American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology points out that over 60 percent of homes in the U.S. contain allergens from cockroaches. That number can rise up to as high as 98 percent in urban and highly populated areas.

Cockroaches are also some of the most disgusting pests. They’re known to carry a range of diseases with them, including the plague, dysentery, and gastroenteritis. Bacteria attach to their nauseating, unsightly skins and get carried all around your home. Because of the range that these pests cover, they leave behind a lot of waste. This bodily waste—let’s call it dust from now on—can come from their feces, slimy saliva, or just general shedding of their skin.

Some of the allergic symptoms cockroaches can cause include:

• Skin rashes
• Coughing
• Congestion
• Ear infections
• Itchy and watery eyes
• Postnasal drip

Cockroach dust is also known to induce asthma attacks, where you can find yourself constantly coughing and wheezing, having a general feeling of anxiety, and feeling tightness in your chest. It’s been reported that up to 60 percent of people with asthma who live in cities are allergic to cockroaches, making it extremely important to take cockroach sightings seriously if you have asthma.

Dust Mites

What sets apart dust mites from the rest of the pests discussed in this section is that you can actually see the other pests. Dust mites are so small, however, that they’re invisible to the naked eye. The only way you can see them is under a microscope. Despite their size, 20 million Americans are allergic to them. They can causes irritating allergic reactions like watery eyes, a runny nose, and endless coughing.

Dust mites excel in room temperature settings from 68 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit. As unsavory as it sounds, these mites feed on your dead skin, and this can be found all over your home. In other words, there’s no place that dust mites won’t try to set up camp. Their waste (there can be a lot of it) is what causes the allergic reactions as it can mingle with mold and cockroach dust.

Flies

Various forms of flies have also been found to cause allergic reactions. Flies are known to harbor and transport at least 65 diseases, and they’re some of the most notorious pests when it comes to coming in contact with food. They can freely fly from plate to plate and restaurant to restaurant, picking up bacteria and cells from foods you’re allergic to and transport them to your area. Some of these species of flies include:

Fruit flies:

In one study, 30 percent of workers in a laboratory were found to have respiratory issues and skin rashes after coming in contact with fruit flies.
Common housefly: Though not exactly common (one study described the occurrence of allergies to a “highly specific” situation), house flies have been found to cause nasal allergies.
Horse flies and deer flies: These flies can cause allergic reactions like wheezing, which is caused by the flies’ “salivary secretions.”

Rodents

Rodents like mice, rats, and guinea pigs have the ability to trigger allergic reactions when exposed to humans. These allergies are caused by their droppings, urine, saliva, and skin. There is a wide-range of symptoms associated with rat allergies, including a stuffy nose, itchy skin, eczema, and nausea. Like many other pests, rodents are known to enable asthma attacks because of their connection to allergies.

Even though most houses have some form of rodent allergens that can affect adults and kids, inner-city housing developments are at the highest risk of suffering from allergies caused by rodents because of the high concentration of pests in those areas. This is backed up by a study done of the most rat-infested cities in the United States, and the top five include some of the country’s biggest metropolises (in order, courtesy of USA Today):

• Chicago
• New York City
• Washington D.C.
• Los Angeles
• San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose

Even laboratory workers who do studies on rodents before human trials have been found to suffer allergic reactions and asthma attacks when overexposed.

IgE Blood Test

An IgE blood test directly gets to the biological interactions between allergens and your blood. IgE stands for Immunoglobulin E, and it is the antibody created by your body when it is trying to combat something your body is allergic to.

For this test, doctors take a blood sample and then add specific allergens they believe you are being affected by, like those from cockroaches, rodents, and dust mites. Once these allergens are separately added to samples of your blood, doctors measure the amount of IgEs your blood produced to see if it is trying to combat an allergy it has to the substance.

Skin Test

A skin test is a more simple process that is done either on or just under the surface of your skin to see if you’re allergic to something.

A professional will place a drop of the allergen thought to be affecting you on your skin. A nurse or doctor then has the option to leave the allergen on your skin or poke the area with a small needle to push some of the allergen under the surface of your skin. If you have an allergy to the substance, you will start to develop redness or an itchiness within 15 minutes of the allergen coming in contact with your skin, according to the ACAAI. It’s also possible you will develop a wheal, which is “a raised, red, itchy bump” that surrounds the affected area.

If the skin tests indicate that you may have an allergy, doctors then compare the results to your overall lifestyle and living conditions just to make sure that the effects aren’t due to another reason. Many of these allergies can be controlled and subdued with simple treatment and medication.