COCKROACH INSECTICIDE TREATMENTS AND HUMAN LIFESTYLES IN COUNCIL FLATS IN FRANCE

Abstract:
The current situation concerning cockroach (Blattella germanica (L.)) presence and insecticide control was investigated in high-rise blocks of low-income flats in the French city of Rennes. The aim of this study was to analyse the results of professional cockroach insecticide treatments and to try to understand why control success was so low. Treatments were proposed every two months for a year. Cockroach abundance and six general environmental characteristics were recorded after each treatment, for each flat treated. The environmental characteristics recorded for each flat were : nationality of residents, duration of occupation, human density, application of domestic pesticides, reactions of residents to the presence of cockroaches and degree of cleanness. A multivariate analysis stressed the influence of the combination of level of cleanness and human density on cockroach abundance. Our data revealed for the first time that although dirtiness influenced cockroach abundance it did not influence cockroach presence. Residents' nationality, duration of occupation, reaction to the presence of cockroaches, use of domestic insecticides were not correlated with cockroach presence or abundance. Our data show that the part played by the residents in a given structure has been greatly underestimated so far when the results of treatments are analysed.