Roaches

Your home can be a luxurious resort for the most bothersome pest in the nation: the lowly cockroach.

German cockroaches, for instance, will feast on everything from dirty garbage cans to the glue in a dresser drawer. American cockroaches, a larger variety often found in older city dwellings, love your leftovers and crumbs, but will also enjoy your bookbindings, soap and glue. Most roaches can live for a week without water, and four weeks without food. Roaches can carry and pass along dysentery, typhus and salmonella.

It's easy to see why cockroaches are consistently picked at the most hated and disgusting pest, since they spread disease and bacteria rapidly. About 8% of the US population is allergic to roaches.

There are things you can do to control cockroaches:

• Store food in airtight glass or plastic containers
• Wipe up food spills immediately
• Keep counters, floors and cabinets clean
• Vacuum frequently
• Keep garbage cans tightly covered
• Seal cracks and crevices. Caulk openings around pipes, fixtures and cabinetry.

Asthma problems among children linked to cockroaches

Research recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine states that asthmatic children who were frequently exposed to cockroaches were 3 1/2 times more likely to be hospitalized for asthma-related problems than children not exposed to them.