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SECOND OF FOUR PARTS
Because of Hawaii’s warm climes, cockroaches thrive year-round. Newcomers and visitors often are startled by their first sight of the American roach, locally dubbed the B-52, known to shrug off a direct hit with a telephone book (even back when it included the Yellow Pages).
"Cockroaches are one of the most disgusting creatures we know," says a fact sheet from the University of Hawaii Center on the Family. "They are also very dangerous. In your home, cockroaches feed on almost anything — bits of food, leather, paper, wallpaper, books, blood, and even toenails. They also feed on feces (food and animal wastes), garbage and sewage. After wandering through all kinds of wastes, picking up bacteria and other germs, they crawl over your kitchen counters, food, and dishes, tainting them with their vomit and feces. They crawl into baby bottles and onto your children’s toys."
About 20 species of cockroach have found their way to Hawaii, according to Kenneth Grace, an entomologist with the UH College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.
They include the German and Australian roaches, which prefer the indoors, and Asian and harlequin roaches, which usually live outside. The Surinam cockroach is the only one to regularly host a disease agent — poultry eyeworm, a problem in chickens, Grace says. But roaches can carry many other diseases, including salmonella, dysentery, typhus, polio and toxoplasmosis. Their droppings and dead body parts can also trigger asthma attacks, cautions the Hawaii Department of Health.
The German cockroach is the most common in homes and restaurants. They prefer dark and moist areas and can be found during the day lurking behind baseboards, in cracks in cabinets or pantries, or under refrigerators, stoves and dishwashers.
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