BACKGROUND Cockroaches are of vital importance medically and hygienically. They are able to contaminate foods and act as vectors of pathogenic agents such as bacteria, protozoa, and parasites to human environment either mechanically or through their digestive system. Cockroaches belong to the phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta, and order Blattodea or Blattaria. To date, over 4,500 cockroach speci...

Method Retrospective chart review of patients evaluated for allergic rhinitis and underwent skin prick testing. A cohort of 250 patients was randomly selected with inclusion criteria being symptomatic allergic rhinitis and positive allergy skin prick testing to usual panel of allergens. Data collection included demographics, smoking exposure, symptom pattern, presence or absence of non-nasal sy...

Insects are nature’s engineering marvels. They can perform marvellous feats such as jumping many times their own body length, lifting many times their own body weight, moving around even with multiple missing limbs and doing all this with amazing efficiency. It is little wonder then that roboticists have been attempting to replicate nature’s design feat in robots. The primary thrust in the area...

background: the german cockroach, blattella germanica l . , is a serious household and public health pest worldwide. con­trol of this species has been very difficult to achieve. toxicity of cypermethrin ec10%, deltamethrin ec5%, diazi­non ec0.5%, lambda-cyhalothrin ec5% and negon® (permethrin+propoxur oil liquid1%) commercial for­mula­tions were investigated against adult males of german cockro...

background: cockroaches are of vital importance medically and hygienically as they can disperse human patho­genic agents and are especially responsible for food contamination and spreading of food borne pathogens. in this study, part of mtdna-coi gene of five common pest cockroaches was tested for diagnostic and phylogenetic pur­poses. methods: we have described barcode region of mtdna-coi gene...

BACKGROUND Exposures to traffic-related air pollutants including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) have been associated with the development and exacerbation of asthma. However, there is limited evidence on whether these pollutants are associated with the development of cockroach sensitization, a strong risk factor for urban asthma. We hypothesized that repeatedly high PAH exposure during ...

BACKGROUND Asthma-associated morbidity is rising, especially in inner city children. OBJECTIVE We evaluated the allergen sensitivities, allergen exposures, and associated morbidity for participants in the Inner City Asthma Study. We also determined geographic variations of indoor allergen levels. METHODS Nine hundred thirty-seven inner city children 5 to 11 years old with moderate to severe...

BACKGROUND Although the importance of cockroach allergen in chronic asthma has now been well defined, little progress has been made in the control of cockroach allergen in infested homes. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to examine the ability of a combination of professional pest extermination and household cleaning using a solution of sodium hypochlorite to reduce cockroach infesta...