Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 20, 1993 TAG: 9311200223
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
And UVa scientists say "thanks."
UVa uses the droppings (known to scientists as "frass") for allergy research. Its researchers have discovered that exposure to cockroaches and their droppings may cause episodes of asthma, particularly among inner-city residents.
The frass is used to synthesize antibodies, said Dr. Martin Chapman, who directs the project at UVa's clinical immunology lab.
Surveys of hospital emergency room patients indicate cockroaches may be just as significant a cause for asthma as stress or passive cigarette smoke.
And asthma sufferers plagued by this particular allergy may breathe easier thanks to Tech's cockroaches, Chapman said.
Many unsung heroes are part of this cooperative effort. Foremost are untold hundreds of thousands of Blattella Germanica cockroaches inhabiting Tech's own "Roach Motel," the school's entomology lab.
This lab is a creepy place - a warm, cramped room stacked with shelves containing jars filled with writhing, swarming insects.
But it's Club Med for cockroaches. Their job is to crawl around wire screens inside the jars, munch on dog food and regularly and without shame produce the critical frass.
The lab, among few entomology research facilities of its kind, contains 50 types of insects from around the globe.
Blattella Germanica - also known in the lab as "VPI Normal" - is one of the common species, a household pest that scurries across the floor when you switch on the light.
Lab technicians Nancy Boles and Elizabeth Watson sift the stuff - which resembles bits of pepper in color and size - from the bottom of the jars. Then they put it in an ice cream carton, tape the lid and ship the frass to Charlottesville.
Both technicians have worked in the lab for years. They're just as casual about handling cockroach excrement as they are about advancing medical science.
"As long as the paycheck comes," Boles said.
The frass may be tiny and dry, "But you can notice it if it's been around very long," Watson said.
And the theory that cockroach frass can induce an allergic reaction makes sense to Boles. "I itch like crazy if I get into it," she said.
Still, they leave the job in the lab at the end of the day. "Oh yeah, for sure. I step on them if I see them at home," Boles said.
Chapman said cockroach frass can be deposited in many nooks around the house: kitchen cabinets, carpets, bedding, upholstery. The asthmatic fits brought on by allergic reactions occur most frequently among low-income families, who are more likely to live in dilapidated housing.
The correlation between the presence of cockroaches and instances of asthma is just as strong as the relationship between cholesterol and heart disease, he said.
Obviously, the research effort shared by Tech and UVa is nothing for you feuding Hokies and Wahoos to wheeze at.
by CNB