NO. IO COCKROACHES—ROTH AND WILLIS 5 
that incriminates cockroaches as actual or potential vectors of disease 
agents. Undoubtedly we have overlooked some of the literature; we 
have eliminated some reports that were too fragmentary to form a 
basis for conclusions. But we have attempted to cite the significant 
publications. 
We hope that the information assembled herein will provide epi- 
demiologists, sanitarians, and medical entomologists with both basic 
knowledge and a keener appreciation of the potentialities of common 
cockroaches as transmitters of the agents of disease. 
To make the review easier to read, we have grouped the annotated 
lists of pathogenic organisms, naturally or experimentally associated 
with cockroaches, in appendices. The appendices contain the meat of 
our argument; they should not be overlooked. 
One of my native patients in S. Rhodesia always slept in the 
open, as he preferred to give up his hut to the cockroaches! 
He placed food there for them and slept outside undisturbed. 
MolIseER (1947). 
II. THE VECTOR COCKROACHES: THEIR HABITS, 
HABITATS, AND DISPERSAL 
There are more than 3,500 known species of cockroaches (Rehn, 
J. W. H., 1951). J. A. G. Rehn (1945) estimated that less than 
I percent of the known species are domiciliary pests. However, we 
should point out that most species of cockroaches have never been 
implicated in the transmission of disease agents. The pest cock- 
roaches, which are all more or less closely associated with man, are 
the only ones of proven medical or veterinary importance. The vast 
majority of cockroaches are presumed to be medically harmless ; but 
it is well to keep in mind that, should any of these change their habits 
and become followers of man, they too may become as potentially 
dangerous as the known domiciliary species. 
The following cockroaches have been incriminated, naturally or 
experimentally, in the transmission of pathogenic agents or have been 
claimed to bite man. The cited common names were taken from 
Rehn (1945) or Sailer (1955). 
Scientific Name Common Name 
EPPS AESOP OS SEO eh) oh) iusieunea phyhe -. capahela Guam yerecaaneae’s 
PIMDEOUS CV AMIIOr BULINCISECD | + yk lalate patella a msviejorate 
SP EGUCKIUS GISCOLOGIESTSELVING i s)he Niele cer ie eco aie 
NaGneras juscusasrini@ere (eh OO See wane ee ee: 
. Blatia orientalis Linnaeus Oriental cockroach 
abhWDN 
