COLUMBUS DISPATCH (Ohio) 01 April 08 Hissing cockroach can make noses run (Joe Blundo)
If any insect should have an image problem, it's an enormous cockroach that makes noises like a snake.
Yet the Madagascar hissing cockroach has parlayed its qualities into a surprising degree of popularity. We've all seen one at a zoo, in a pet store or on Jack Hanna's shirt during countless TV appearances.
The species might have reached its zenith on Fear Factor, the reality show that seemed to find an excuse every week to submerge contestants in a tank teeming with 10,000 or so hissers. (The show has been canceled, thank heaven.)
But now comes Joshua Benoit -- an Ohio State University doctoral student with a deadpan sense of humor -- to expose a dirty secret: His research indicates that hissers harbor molds that trigger allergic reactions.
We shouldn't be too surprised, Benoit said.
"I mean, it is still a cockroach."
Lest he go down in history as the man who ruined the one roach with a good reputation, Benoit is quick to offer perspective. For most people, the allergy problem can be avoided with a little sanitation: Keep cages clean and wash your hands after handling the insects.
The roach news got feature treatment on OSU's Web site (see the video at www.osu.edu/features/2008/roaches).
Benoit, who did the study with Jay Yoder and Brian Glenn of Wittenberg University in Springfield, is not unaware that it might enhance his academic reputation while hindering his social life.
"My friends are saying, 'You'll probably never get another date after all this publicity about cockroaches and fungi.' "
Well, Benoit, 25, can always tell his romantic interests that roaches are just a sideline for him. In research, he's more of a mosquito-and-bedbug man.
"I have a preference toward things that can bite you back."
Hissing roaches don't bite, by the way. The best they can manage when threatened is the hiss, accomplished by forcing air through their spiracles -- part of the roach respiratory system.
They get disconcertingly large, though: up to 3 inches long and 1 inch wide. They eat mostly rotting vegetation in the wild; in captivity, they also like dog food.
For his investigation, Benoit (working under OSU professor David Denlinger) studied specimens in homes, zoos, pet stores and science classrooms. He and his colleagues identified 14 types of mold growing on or around the roaches. Some of the molds produce spores that could trigger stuffy noses, itching eyes, wheezing coughs and irritated skin in people with allergies.
In fact, Benoit experiences some of those symptoms after prolonged exposure to the bugs. Still, he refuses to defame them or their less-popular cousins. Even common house roaches are no dirtier than the stuff they crawl through, he said.
In other words, if your house is clean, your roaches will be, too.
But, Benoit said, roaches should not interpret that as an invitation. Even roach researchers have a limited tolerance for their subjects.
"If they're in my own house, they're not going to last."

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