The natural reaction to seeing a cockroach or a mouse scurry across your floor is to say “EEEWW! Gross!” because, well, these creatures are pests, and they are gross. What you might not know, though, is that these pests are a lot more than just gross. They can carry diseases, and they can cause health problems for everyone in the home.
This problem is especially serious if one of the people in the home is your aging loved one. Household pests can bring in allergens that make breathing difficult, which can be disastrous for a senior who is already having trouble with their heart or lungs. Whether you are the family caregiver, or your loved one lives alone or with help from a senior care aide, it is important to take action if you suspect a pest problem.

Need more convincing? Here’s a list of some of the problems caused by pests in the home that affect, not just the house itself, but your aging loved one’s health (and yours) as well.

• Allergens – As I mentioned earlier, mice and rats can bring in allergens from outdoors in their fur. Once they are inside the house, these allergens disperse into the air, making them easy to breathe into the lungs. The more mice you have, the worse this problem can get, and the more someone with allergies will suffer.
• Bacteria and germs – Cockroaches, mice, rats, and even mosquitoes can carry many dangerous diseases into the home. Rodents in particular can carry the salmonella virus, and they spread it over ever surface they touch as they move around the house. Cockroaches, too, carry diseases – most notably E.coli, usually associated with food poisoning. These are illnesses that you do not want to get if you are healthy, but they can be debilitating for a senior who already has health problems!
• Contaminated Food – Mice especially are notorious for breaking into pantries and cabinets to sample our food. One they get in there, though, they have spread whatever diseases they are carrying to that food, and it must be thrown out. Insect pests can also lay eggs in things like flour sacks, leaving you to open it one day and find a horde of wriggling larvae inside. (Gross!)
• Feces and shed skin – If you have ever had a mouse or a rat in your house, you will know that they basically leave a trail of droppings in their wake everywhere they go. These droppings, though, can contain all kinds of diseases that can be transferred to us. The same thing goes for the skin shed by insects as they grow – in both cases, these “leftovers” are extremely dangerous and harmful to our healthy, and should be cleaned up properly and immediately to reduce health risks.

If you or your loved one notice any signs of an infestation in your house, act as quickly as possible to try to correct the problem. Call an exterminator, or work to eliminate the problem on your own, if you feel confident. But make sure that chemicals and insecticides are not used in the extermination process, as these will only give your aging loved one even more health and breathing trouble.

Source:
http://onetwotree.com/pests-and-their-negative-effects

If You Or An Aging Loved One Are Considering Hiring Professional Senior Care in Lake Park, FL, Please Contact The Caring Staff at Assisting Hands Home Care at 561­-829­-3080 Today.