Due to the extreme heat, the presence of pests has increased in homes and buildings in major cities

The ace high temperatures In cities promote the increase in the populations of urban pestsas rats, cockroaches, bed bugs, spiders, mosquitoes, scorpions and ticks.

In the metropolitan area of ​​Buenos Aires (AMBA), in the last three weeks, high temperatures have been recorded. At the same time requests increased by 50% and requests for emergency services due to the presence of pests in homes, offices and other establishmentsas reported to GlobeLiveMedia the Union of Chambers and Associations of Buenos Aires in Urban Pest Control (UCABA).

“Consultations and emergency requests have seen a significant increase in recent times,” said Lucila Valera, agricultural engineer and external adviser at UCABA. The ranking of pests in the area is led by cockroaches and rats. “There is also a lot of concern about mosquitoes as dengue fever cases have increased,” he said.

There are also more consultations for ants, moths, scorpions, fleas and bed bugs. These bed bugs hide in the crevices and creases of beds, box springs, headboards, bed frames and any other objects around them, and come out at night to feed on their preferred host, humans.

“More bed bugs are seen during the summer in tourist areas across the country. Because they travel in the suitcases of tourists,” the engineer explained. Bedbugs feed on people’s blood while they sleep. The bedbug bites and it returns to its hiding place, which may be a suitcase opened.

In Spain, also last summer, actions against this pest in major cities skyrocketed. According to the Catalan Association of Environmental Health Companies of Catalonia (Adepap), the high temperatures from May to December, with successive heat waves and nights with temperatures above 20 degrees and the lack of rain, have made the populations of pests.

According to the Catalan Association, the pests “less and less seasonal and more and more global” according to this association. The technical coordinator of Adepap, Luis Lozano, indicated that the requests for intervention and control have increased by 30%. As for rats, the number of incidents has actually increased by 10-15%.

The demand for services to eradicate cockroaches increased by around 25% in Catalonia. Partly because between 2020 and 2021, with the coronavirus pandemic, effective control ceased to be carried out and now they are reappearing in premises and other facilities.

A similar situation was experienced in Argentina. “After 2020, due to the first decree that established mass containment, known as quarantine, there were pest control services that were cut off,” said Engineer Valera (Professional Registration 18107* 01*01).

“There were more rodent entries into homes and buildings. Because food sources such as containers didn’t have as much waste available since there were closures of business premises that stopped taking the waste out,” he commented.

In France, the pest control association, La Chambre Syndicale 3D, which brings together 800 companies, has just published its 2021-2022 comparative report. It showed that it registered a 35% increase in the interventions of the professionals related to the control of the rats.

There are factors that favor more plagues in cities: when available water, shelter and food are combined. Preventive measures can be taken.

For example, dirty dishes should not be left overnight in the kitchen. Broken tiles and the deterioration of buildings encourage them to become havens for pests, such as cockroaches. Leaving damp, unwrung rags in the kitchen also means water remains, another contributing factor to pests.

More consultations were observed due to the presence of scorpions in houses or buildings. “Scorpions or scorpions usually appear in places where there are a lot of cockroaches. Because these insects are the food of scorpions. For this reason, a woven mesh must be placed on the grids. The mesh prevents the scorpion which moves in the pipes of the buildings to pass through”, explained the expert.

Keeping clean and tidy, using mosquito nets and putting screens on the grills are measures to prevent pests from entering homes. The use of a repellent prevents the transmission of dengue, zika and chikungunya. In the presence of pests, the engineer stressed that it is essential to hire a qualified professional company.

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