Economic damages, health problems and inconvenience. They are the triple effect of summer pests and the three reasons why they should be combated. The American cockroach, tiger mosquitoes and bed bugs, along with rats, are the pests that experts consider most foreseeable in the coming months. “The American cockroach will be the protagonist of the plagues this summer in Catalonia”, indicate the spokespersons of the Catalan Association of Environmental Health Companies, (Adepap). The rise in temperatures will also cause the appearance, as usual, of the tiger mosquitoes and rats while tourism and international travel will contribute to the proliferation of bed bugs Companies in the sector continue to detect an increase in interventions to control these pests, which they largely attribute to increases in temperature.
“We already have West Nile fever, Zika and chikungunya here, and a whole series of viruses that we were not used to. And for this reason, we want to emphasize all this and the need to control the pests; because they are a health risk for the citizen”, explains Quim Sendra, president of Adepap.
The plague that is expected to appear with more force this summer is that of the sewer cockroach, especially the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana), brown in color and the most common. These cockroaches come from the sewer system and can be found in all types of buildings.
The other sewage cockroach will also appear this summer, the oriental (Blatta orientalis, black), as well as the German or brown cockroach -or German (Blatella germanica) of a lighter color -blonde- and more common inside homes and in the field of restoration.
Cockroaches live and feed in places where there is dirt, so they can cause contamination with bacteria, such as salmonella, on surfaces and food, increasing the risk of illness and allergies. The best prevention is the cleaning and maintenance of the entire system of pipes, drains and sewerage boxes, experts say.
Despite the lack of rain, in the summer of 2023 it is expected that the tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) will return with force, which is the one that can cause the most discomfort in urban areas. Quim Sendra, president of Adepap, explains that “even in a context of drought, it is a mosquito that lives and takes advantage of human activity because small accumulations of water are enough to reproduce.
“Its larval habitats are drains, jugs, pots, saucers, buckets, and other small puddles and outdoor containers with small amounts of water; therefore, it is necessary to prevent water from remaining in these small collectorsâ€. It is also important to “install mosquito nets in homes (windows, doors, and other openings), wear long-sleeved clothing and long pants, and use insect repellent sparingly,” recalls Sendra.
The appearance of the common mosquito (Culex pipiens) is also expected, but it will be concentrated above all in those areas where more frequent and abundant rainfall can occur, and in areas with large bodies of water, near rivers, lakes, ponds and others, since that, along with the heat, common mosquitoes need a lot of water to breed.
Both species of mosquitoes can transmit disease. In its native countries, the tiger mosquito is the cause of diseases such as dengue, yellow fever, Zika and chikungunya. “In our country, the cases of these diseases caused by vectors of the tiger mosquito are mostly imported, but we must forget that they can cause autochthonous outbreaks,” recalls Adepap’s technical coordinator, Luis Lozano.
“We must change the chip from considering mosquitoes as a nuisance and seeing them as transmitters of diseases,” says Rubén Bueno, an expert in the ecology of disease vectors.
The gray rat or common rat (Rattus norvegicus) is found mainly in urban environments. It is omnivorous and can move up to a distance of 50 meters to search for food and/or water. It has burrowing habits and nocturnal habits and, being a warm-blooded animal, it is active and reproductive all year round.
Experts recommend covering any opening greater than 12 millimeters with rat-resistant materials, since door and window margins, pipe entry holes, and others are entry points. On the other hand, “sanitation is the other preventive measure for proper control of these animals.”
On the other hand, the presence of the black rat (Rattus rattus) is also becoming more common in urban environments, where we were not used to finding them. This species climbs more easily and can climb walls with the help of cables, ledges or small cracks in buildings.
A fearsome enemy can also be bedbugs, which have become more frequent as tourism and international travel resume. Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) arrive at home, in most cases, transported in their own clothes or travel suitcases.
“2023 will be a year, once again, with a high presence of bedbugs,” says Sendra, who recommends that travelers “check and thoroughly inspect the rooms where they will spend the night, the hotel rooms, as well as the suitcases when returning home and to wash the clothes that have been used on the trip at the highest possible temperatureâ€. When detected, these rooms “cannot be reoccupied”.
The pests of this insect “are quite difficult to eliminate”, since during the day the bedbug hides in corners, cracks in the wood or folds of clothing, especially in mattresses and sofas, and comes out at night to suck blood â€.
For Quim Sendra, “last summer we already had a very long pest season, but this year it started even earlier due to the weather conditions and they have started to appear for weeks now.”
In fact, “due to climate change, the appearance of pests tends to become seasonal and they are increasingly present during more months of the year.”
The increase in temperatures causes the biological cycles of the species to accelerate and there are more reproductions with higher rates of resulting individuals. All this, “added to resistance to biocidal products, makes pests increasingly abundant,” says Sendra.
For all these reasons, “prevention is one of the most important measures to control pests that may affect our country”, so “the best thing is to have specialized professionals to combat them”, recommends Sendra.
And, “although the situation here is not yet worrisome, we cannot lose sight of the fact that some insects and mammals -such as mosquitoes and rats- are transmitters of diseases”.
Sendra called for proper professional control of pests aimed above all at official bodies (town halls, counties and other institutions) to take into account criteria that relate quality to price and not just price.
