Cockroaches are carriers of numerous diseases that can be potentially harmful to humans. German cockroaches, American cockroaches, Oriental cockroaches, and Brown-banded cockroaches are the most common species of cockroaches on the East coast of the United States. They reproduce at an alarming rate of 200 to 300 offspring or 6 generations a year.

The presence of cockroaches in your place of an establishment can be detrimental to your reputation. Moreso, Cockroaches can cause ailments such as:

• Food poisoning – because they like to eat rotten food and crawl around unhygienic places, they can spread germs in the food on your counter and in cabinets and this can cause food poisoning when ingested.
• Dysentery – this is an illness that is caused by the ingestion of fecal matter from pests like cockroaches.
• Tapeworms – this can lead to serious illness and problems with digesting food in humans and other animals.
• Roundworms – they can be very dangerous to humans and cause illnesses such as trichinosis.
• Allergies – cockroach feces, dead skins, and saliva are one of the major causes of allergies for those who live in urban locations.
  Once there is an infestation, cockroaches can spread quickly to neighboring parts of a property. This is why swift action is crucial to ensure effective eradication.

There are over 12,000 species of ant species worldwide, but in the East Coast climate the Pavement, Carpenter and Black Ants are the most common species. Tropical ant species such as Roger’s, Ghost and Pharaoh’s Ants only survive with the warmth from the interiors of heated properties in the US.

Ants play an important role in the environment as they turn and aerate the soil, allowing water and oxygen to reach plant roots. However, it is a different story when they find their way into your home or office and they must therefore be eradicated.

• Carpenter Ants
  Reddish black, large, and commonly found within wood properties hence its name, a carpenter ant infestation can cause permanent structural damage. Their burrowing activities on wooden structures, trees, and furniture are done to provide accommodation for the thousands of ants in each colony.
• Black House Ants
  They are relatively small black ants that are found in woodwork or masonry but sometimes infest the interiors of a house and cause food spoilage.
• Pavement Ant
  As their name implies, pavement ants nest in cracks of pavement, driveways, and sidewalks. The pavement ant is black with two spines on their backs.

Beetles are by far the largest order of insects with over 400,000 recorded species and therefore makeup about 40% of all insect species and roughly 25% of all animal species. A beetle can be easily mixed with other insects, so for easy identification, the wings and wing covers should be observed.

Most insects have wings and those that do have two pairs. Beetles are however different as the first pair of wings are hardened and thickened. These strong forewings serve as a protective shield for the fragile flying wings, which are folded underneath. In fact, the Latin name for this order, Coleoptera, means “folded wing”.

Generally, beetles are attracted to light. Many searches for stored grains and packaged foods, while others feed on garden plants, wood, or fabric.

Termites are a group of eusocial insects that consume a wide range of decaying plant materials, like wood, leaf litter, and soil humus. They can be identified by their soft-bodied and unpigmented which gives them the term “white ants. The United States is home to over 40 out of roughly 2000 species of termites in the world.

Leaky pipes, improper drainage, and poor airflow are breeding grounds for termites. Damp wood and subterranean termites in particular thrive in humid environments. While damp wood termites prefer water-damaged wood. Termites can spread quickly due to their fast and numerous reproductive ability; A queen can produce roughly 1,000 eggs per day by her fourth year of life.

Termites are carriers of dangerous illnesses such as typhus, gastroenteritis, dysentery, and polio. The feces of termites are also responsible for asthma and other respiratory diseases.

A bed bug is a tiny, parasitic insect that feeds on human blood. They are also well known for hitchhiking, stowing away personal belongings, luggage and laptop bags to spread between, rooms, houses and hotels. Bed bugs or Cimex lectularius are more active at night so they get their name from their propensity to breed and live in mattresses. They can also live in sofas, carpets and other areas in close proximity to their food source.

Bed bugs are brownish-red in color and approximately one-quarter inch long. They tend to leave behind shed skins, fecal matter, and blood spots when an infestation occurs. Bed bugs leave red bite marks on your arms, torso, neck or body as they feed.

There are roughly 120,000 species of flies worldwide. A majority of them are identified as pests as they pose a health risk to humans, pets, and livestock through the spread of food poisoning, dysentery, and diarrhea. Flies can infest your home or business and spread diseases like Salmonella and E. coli. A few species may even bite humans and animals.

The commonest species of fly is the housefly. It is greyish in color and a major carrier of salmonella, staphylococcus, and E. Coli, which cause diseases such as typhoid fever, cholera, hepatitis, polio, tuberculosis, and dysentery. Though they don’t bite, their diet range from organic scraps in the garbage to exposed food in the home.

The United States is home to over 200 species of mosquitoes, out of these 200, about 12 types spread germs that can make people sick. Others cause a nuisance to people and are considered nuisance mosquitoes.

The most common mosquito-borne disease in the United States is the West Nile virus. In the United States, the most common types of mosquitoes that can spread germs include:

• Aedes species mosquitoes (aegypti)
• Culex species mosquitoes (pipiens, Cx. tarsalis, Cx. quinquefasciatus)
• Anopheles species mosquitoes (freeborni and An. quadrimaculatus)

Fleas are tiny and flightless external parasites that rely on a blood feed to lay eggs. The main flea species in the US that poses a major challenge (even if you don’t have pets) are Dog and Cat Fleas.

Fleas can ingest 15 times their own weight in blood. This is why dogs and cats become anemic when they are infested with fleas. Signs of anemic caused by fleas include pale gums and lack of energy. Female fleas can lay 40 to 50 eggs a day and this causes rapid infestation.

You might have at one point come across a tiny animal with invasive antennae and countless legs at a glance, crawling along your wall or floor, did you know if it was a millipede or a centipede? Why does it matter? Well, one is poisonous and the other is not.

Millipedes

Millipedes are a specie of arthropods that are known for having two pairs of jointed legs on their body segments. Most millipedes are detritivores (they feed primarily on rotting leaves and other decaying plants) and are therefore more likely to be found in the garden than at home.

While they are not exactly poisonous, most of their species possess glands that produce irritating fluids that can cause allergic reactions in some individuals. The defensive sprays of some millipedes contain hydrochloric acid that can chemically burn the skin and cause long-term discoloration of the skin.

Centipedes

Centipedes are carnivorous arthropods of the class Chilopoda and subphylum Myriapoda, just like millipedes and other multi-legged animals. They are elongated and segmented creatures with one pair of legs per body segment.

They are commonly reddish-orange or brown hue in color and house centipedes are common in European and North American homes. The thick brown stripes of the house centipede distinguish it from other species and although the more common house centipede is only one inch to 1.5 inches in length, other centipedes can be even longer and larger.

Centipedes feed on spiders, cockroaches, moths, crickets, earthworms, bed bugs, silverfish, and other centipedes. The bite of a centipede appears like two red marks on the skin, which form a V-shape due to the positioning of the forcipules of the centipede.

Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, appendages with fangs and the ability to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk and are used to paralyze their prey. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all orders of organisms. There are over 48000 species of spiders and most of these species can live up to two years or more.

Spiders are among the most prevalent household pests and can be found in two out of three American homes. They feed on Roaches, Earwigs, Mosquitoes, Flies, and Clothes Moths.

The three commonest types of venomous spiders found in the United States are the black widow, the hobo, and the brown recluse. These spiders pose a great threat to outdoor workers. They can also occasionally crawl into structures or buildings and can also present a risk to indoor workers including machine operators, janitors, and cashiers.

• The Black Widow
  They are easily distinguished by the pattern of red coloration beneath their abdomen. Black widows are usually found in workplaces containing dormant woodpiles, eaves, fences, and other areas where debris has piled up. They also live in outdoor toilets where flies are plentiful.
  
  Black widow spiders build webs between objects, and bites usually occur when humans come into direct contact with their webs. A bite from a black widow can be identified by the two puncture marks it makes on the skin. The venom is a neurotoxin that produces pain at the bite area and then spreads to the chest, abdomen, and eventually, the entire body.
  
  
• The hobo
  The hobo is threatening but tends to avoid humans. Bites from this spider usually occur upon accidental contact. Shake out shoes and boots before putting them on if you suspect that there could be hobo spiders in your area. Its bite is painful, and its venom can cause tissue death on site.
  
  
• Brown Recluse Spiders
  Also known as the violin spider, this specie is most commonly found in the Midwestern and southern states of the United States. It is brownish with a characteristic dark violin-shaped marking on its head and has six equal-sized eyes (most spiders have eight eyes). Brown recluse spiders tend to inhabit workplaces with secluded, dry, sheltered areas such as underneath structures logs, or in piles of rocks or leaves. Indoors, they live in dark closets, shoes, or attics.

When bitten a small white blister immediately appears. The venom of a brown recluse can cause a severe lesion by destroying skin tissue (skin necrosis). This skin lesion requires. immediate medical attention

Wasps

A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita which is neither a bee nor an ant. They are up to 30000 species of Wasps, but generally, they are divided into two groups; social and solitary. Social wasps make up only a thousand species and include formidable colony-builders, like yellow jackets and hornets. Solitary wasps on the other hand do not form colonies. This group is made up of some of the wasp family’s largest members, like cicada killers and the striking blue-and-orange tarantula hawks, which can both reach 1.5 inches in length.

Social wasps are considered pests when they become excessively rampant or live too close to buildings. People are most often stung in late summer and early autumn when wasp colonies stop breeding new workers; the existing workers search for sugary foods and are more likely to come into contact with humans.

Bees

Bees are winged insects with close relation to wasps and ants. They are known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea. The Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens) is one of the most common species on the East Coast.

The three most common types of harmful bees in the US are:

• Carpenter Bees
  They are twice as large as honey bees, and they have more black than yellow on their body with rounded abdomens. As wood eaters, they pose a great threat to buildings and homes.
• Bumble Bees
  Bumble bees live in grounded nests made of wax built beneath the ground. They are not as aggressive and are less likely to sting compared to hornets and yellow jackets. Male bumblebees cannot sting, and females only do so when they feel threatened. Their stings, however, are painful and could be dangerous to those with allergies.
• Yellow Jackets
  They possess smooth, glossy bodies and are bright yellow and black. Yellow jackets have a painful sting and can be aggressive in defending their nest.

Rodents are mammals that belong to the order Rodentia, which are identified by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They include rats, mice, squirrels, hamsters, porcupines, and their group.

House Mouse
The house mouse is a small mammal in the rodent family, it is characterized by a pointed snout, large rounded ears, and a long and almost hairless tail. It is one of the most abundant species of the genus Mus.

While the typical house mouse is not as harmful to your health as a deer mouse, they can still spread diseases like hantavirus, salmonellosis and listeria through their urine, droppings, saliva and nesting materials.

Norway Rats
The Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus) also known as the brown or sewer rat is a destructive pest that is common in urban and suburban neighborhoods. They feed and contaminate food, damage buildings, and other property by their gnawing and burrowing, and may spread diseases that affect people and pets.

Roof Rats
Scientifically known as Rattus Rattus, The roof rat, also known as the black rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent. Roof rats are food hoarders, stashing away food supplies like seeds and nuts.

Squirrels
Squirrels are members of the family of small to medium-sized rodents known as Sciuridae. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, and flying squirrels.

Squirrels are carriers of several diseases, though only a few are harmful to humans. Some of the more common diseases are; tularemia, typhus, plague, and ringworm. These diseases are transmitted through bites or other forms of direct contact with infected squirrel.

Cloth Moths

Moth larvae are specifically attracted to dark, warm, humid spaces, as well as dirty clothing (especially unwashed items that may have deep-seated body fluids or food residue). The signs of cloth moth infestation include:

• The presence of silky furrows on wool clothing and fabrics
• Uneven holes in clothing
• Excessive shedding of furs from items of clothing
• Crusty droppings on rugs, drapes, and clothing

Pantry Moths

Pantry moths are food moths, they lay their eggs on stored food and grains. Adult females can lay up to hundreds of eggs directly on or near potential food sources, and the damage is eventually done by the larvae. The larvae of a pantry moth can chew through plastic bags and thin cardboard, so even unopened packages are susceptible to infestation.