The Infestation of Cockroach and Their Perceived Importance in Yalanguruza and Nassarawo Communities, Gombe, Nigeria

Aims: Poor sanitation is strongly associated with an increased cockroach infestation. In line with this, the study was carried out to ascertain and quantify the level of cockroach infestation and their perceived importance in Yalanguruza and Nassarawo communities.

Study Design: Each community was sectioned into four longitudinal zones and 50 houses were randomly selected from each zone for the collection of samples and administration of questionnaires.

Place and Duration of Study: This study was carried out between May and August 2018. Samples were collected in Yalanguruza and Nassarawo communities of Gombe and identified in the Department of Biological Sciences, Gombe State University.

Methodology: A total of 409 cockroaches were collected from different sources in residential homes, 208 in Yalanguruza and 201 in Nassarawo using Hercules mouse glue board with pieces of Cray-fish as baits and were preserved and identified to their respective species. Structured questionnaires were used to obtain the perception of the respondents in the communities about cockroaches. A total of 200 questionnaires were administered in each of the communities.

Results: Up to 78% of the respondents had low knowledge of cockroach infestation and 66% attributed infestation to poor sanitation. The most-reported perception of cockroaches habitation in homes was toilets (66.5%) while the majority (57%) of the respondents knew that cockroaches can be vectors of diseases. 68.5% of the respondents used insecticides in controlling cockroaches. Food items compared to other items showed to be the most commonly affected by the cockroaches with 48% of the respondent attesting that. Cockroach species identified from the two communities were Periplaneta americana with the highest frequency value of 196(47.9%), Blattela germanica 94(23.0%), Supella longipalpa 67(16.4%), Blatta orientalis 38(9.3%) and Arinevaga floredensis 14(3.4%). The highest numbers of cockroaches were obtained from Yalanguruza, 208(50.9). Out of the 409 cockroaches collected, 314(76.8%) were from toilets, 30(7.35%) from bedrooms and 65(15.80%) from kitchens.

Conclusion: High infestation of cockroaches in the study communities was observed and there are poor knowledge and perception of cockroaches in the communities; hence there is a need to sensitize the people in the communities on the potential public health impact of cockroaches.