As a child who enjoyed playing with insects in the back yard, who knew that today I would be making a living doing the very thing I did as a child. It’s been an interesting 30 years; from cockroach infested crawl spaces to yellow jackets at the top of the World Trade Center and everything in between.

It reminds me of the time a colleague and I were called to evaluate a problem in one of those interesting places you would never think of having a pest issue. My colleague had received a call from our maintenance division in Washington DC. He comes into my office to inform me that we would be flying out of LaGuardia Airport the next day (the details were rather sketchy). I was going because my colleague had recently been appointed VP of our pest management division and had zero pest management experience. We hop on the 9AM shuttle and arrive about 45 minutes later. As we disembark, we see our contact waiting with a vehicle to immediately drive us to the location, which had not yet been identified. We discussed what the issue was. They suspected they had a rat problem but had no idea how to determine if in fact that was the case, which is the reason I was flown to DC. He advises us that our FBI background checks were done and we were cleared. At this point I was thinking, “FBI background check for what?”

You are no doubt are wondering where he’s taking us as I was wondering the same thing. As we got closer to our destination he informed us that we were heading to Blair House. Blair House stands on Pennsylvania Avenue across from the White House. It’s the President’s guest house, hosting foreign heads of state visiting the United States on official business.

We go through the security check point and are escorted to the rear courtyard. As I begin my inspection I notice signs of rodent activity starting along the perimeter of the yard. The courtyard had decking over the ground that provided perfect harborage for them. Rodents had burrowed under the decking making it difficult to treat. I set up a protocol for them to address the problem and just as quick we were back on the shuttle to LaGuardia. Who knew that playing with insects would have taken me to the President’s guest house, “not bad”.

They have been around for centuries. Their ability to adapt to any environment and take advantage of any favorable situation makes them a success story in nature. Then add to this the fact that they are omnivorous. Sadly, the nifty biological characteristics that makes them so successful has made them difficult to control. Have you guessed who they are yet? The German cockroach.

The German cockroach is also known for being a professional “hitchhiker” causing them to be part of the upwardly mobile of the insect world. Their choice of harborage (cracks and crevices) provides them with the perfect environment to do what they do best, “multiply”. The female carries her eggs under her abdomen until they are ready to hatch (called gravid). She has a large number of eggs per capsule or ootheca, from 30 to 48 to be exact. They have the shortest period of development before becoming sexually mature. More of the nymphs are likely to hatch with the potential for higher reproduction. Once she drops her ootheca the next one begins to form within a couple of weeks.

The following information will stress the importance of good sanitation along with harborage elimination (sealing cracks and crevices as well as removing clutter, etc.). The adult can live about a month without food, however young nymphs will die of starvation within 10 days. On the other hand, without food and water theadults will die in less than two weeks. Adults have been known to cannibalize their young or each other when food is in short supply. And you thought your relatives were bad.

So, the next time someone says to you they only saw a single cockroach, just advise them that they are all married and have plenty of children. Which is why they have been “designed for survival”.

As you slip into your warm, cozy bed your body begins to ease itself to the z-zone. Just before you fall into dreamland keep this in mind: you may not be alone. You could be sharing your bed with 2 million others. Your response may be, what are you talking about? Does dermatophagoide ring a bell? Dermatophagoide what? It’s a fancy way of saying skin-eater, or dust mite, and yes, they are real.

They are microscopic animals found in dust, which produce common allergens. Dust mites are members of the same family as spiders and ticks. Mattresses and upholstered furniture are their primary living quarters. Their diet consists of the skin that flakes off of our bodies. On average we shed about 1.5 grams of skin per day, that’s enough to feed 1 million dust mites. But where do they come from? Dust mites, along with their waste, travel on dust that floats in the air.

Maybe this will make you feel better: their life span is only two to four months. However, here’s the kicker, it produces 200 times its own body weight in waste or fecal matter. In time its excreta breaks down into very small particles that mix in with the dust in the air you breathe. This is what causes those allergy symptoms and not the dust mite itself.

It’s estimated that about 20 million Americans have symptoms of watery eyes, runny nose, sneezing, coughing, sinus congestion and in those very sensitive individuals, asthma. Pollen allergens are only present part of the year unlike dust mites that are present year round.

So, if the next time you slide into bed it starts to bring tears to your eyes, it may have little to do with your beloved and more to do with you “sleeping with the enemy”.

In the past few years we have been bombarded by one syndrome after another. In our rush to improve the fuel efficiency of our homes/businesses we have created a new one… “Sick-building Syndrome”. Leave it to man to create a new problem while trying to solve another. But, how did this happen in the in the first place you’re wondering?

As we focused on making our homes and businesses air tight, we forgot a very simple fact that our buildings need to breathe in order to maintain healthy indoor air. As per the American Lung Association, it is estimated that we spend 90% of our time indoors. It’s been determined that our indoor air pollution may be two to three times more contaminated than the outdoor pollution (E.P.A. ranks poor indoor air quality among the top five environmental risks to public health). Now you can see why your home or business can become harmful to your health. Doctors find it difficult to determine the concentrations levels of pollutants that would trigger illness. However, if every time you walk into your home or business and you start to experience headaches, weariness, nausea, malaise, sneezing, wheezing and rashes it may be an indicator of sick-building syndrome.

Dirt, dust, mold, pollen and animal dander are being recirculated through our ducts every time we turn on our air conditioning or heating systems causing the current dilemma. Add to this moisture and now you have the perfect breeding grounds for fungi, germs and mold. Studies have confirmed that such diseases as salmonella, strep, and legionnaires are spread by contaminated air ducts.

Where does all of this leave us? It leaves us with this question… when was the last time I had my air handling system cleaned? Welcome to “the age of the syndrome