Financial damages, health problems and inconvenience. They are the triple effect of summer pests: the three reasons why it is advisable to fight them. The American cockroach, tiger mosquitoes and bed bugs, along with rats, are the pests that experts consider most predictable in the coming months. Companies in the sector continue to detect an increase in interventions to control these pests, which they mainly attribute to the increase in temperatures.
“We already have West Nile fever here, Zika and Chikungunya, and a whole series of viruses that we weren’t used to. We want to emphasize all this and the need to control pests, because they are a health risk for citizens”, says Quim Sendra, president of the Catalan Association of Environmental Health Companies (Adepap). “We have to be vigilant, as climate change can cause us to quickly find new species here”, adds and warns Luis Lozano, technical coordinator of Adepap.
The pest that is expected to appear more strongly this summer is that of the sewer cockroach, especially the American ( Periplaneta americana ), brown in color and the most common. These cockroaches come from the sewer network and can be found in all kinds of buildings.
Likewise, despite the lack of rain, the tiger mosquito ( Aedes albopictus ) is expected to return in force this summer, which is what can cause more discomfort in urban areas. Small containers, dishes or drains in the streets can be important foci. The appearance of the common mosquito ( Culex pipiens ) is also expected, which will be concentrated mainly in areas where more frequent and abundant precipitation can occur, and in areas with large bodies of water. Both species of mosquitoes can transmit disease. In their countries of origin, the tiger mosquito is the cause of diseases such as dengue fever, yellow fever, Zika and chikungunya. “In our country, the cases of these diseases caused by tiger mosquito vectors are mostly imported, but we must forget that they can cause indigenous outbreaks”, he recalls. “The Mediterranean area, they warn us, will be an area of ​​vector transmission, as with the case of West Nile fever in Huelva”, he adds.
“We have to change the mindset of considering mosquitoes as a nuisance and start seeing them as a transmitter of diseases,” says Rubén Bueno, an expert in the ecology of disease vectors.
Another predictable enemy is the gray rat or common rat ( Rattus norvegicus ), which is mainly in urban environments. Professionals emphasize that the EU is generally reducing the use of biocides, which constitutes an enormous challenge, as it forces society to reflect on the fact of having to “live with more pests”. Bed bugs can also be a formidable enemy, which have become more frequent because tourism and international travel have resumed. Sendra recommends that travelers “check and thoroughly inspect the rooms where they will spend the night, the hotel rooms, as well as the suitcases when they return home”.
The average increase in temperatures is one of the elements that has the greatest impact on the appearance of pests. This factor causes the biological cycles of the species to accelerate and there are more reproductions, with higher rates of resulting individuals. The specialists point out that “due to climate change, the appearance of pests tends to de-seasonalize and they are increasingly present for more months of the year”.
Sendra called for a correct professional control of pests aimed mainly at the official estates (councils, counties and other institutions) so that they take into account criteria that relate quality to price and not just price.
