Research has shown that cockroaches can cause harmful infections to human beings, according to an article that was published by the mSystems, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
The research was conducted at the Technical University of Denmark where it was discovered that the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) disease is caused by cockroaches and can be a threat to human beings and other animals.
Researchers are still investigating about the cure of such infections, to come up with drugs that are more effective.
Available curative drugs are few on the market hence it has become difficult to treat the disease as infections increase.
Cockroaches are found mainly in densely populated areas especially in the urban environments.
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The insects usually come into contact with human beings posing a health risk. In most cases, cockroaches live in places with poor hygiene, therefore maintaining proper hygiene can help reduce their spread.
The researchers had tried using tetracyclines in treatment of bacterial infections caused by cockroaches and found that the microbiome in cockroaches were resistant to the drugs.
During research, the scientists also mixed the tetracyclines -treated cockroaches with those that were not treated. After interaction with treated cockroaches, non treated ones were resistant to tetracyclines antibiotics .
The results indicated that the over use of antibiotics can transmit AMR. Additionally animals that have AMR in their microbiomes when they interact with those that do not have, facilitates transmission of AMR.
