Cockroach invasions plague more Swedish homes

Cockroaches are on the march in Sweden, according to reports from exterminators and home insurance companies.

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The Anticimex extermination company reports that the number of Stockholm-area homes needing its services has increased by 45 percent in the last two years, according to the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper.

In 2006, Anticimex answered 1,302 calls to clear apartment and homes which had been invaded by cockroaches.

Last year, the company made 1,885 house calls, and so far this year Anticimex has visited 713 homes to help residents get rid of the little, unwanted occupants.

In one recent case, renters in the Stockholm suburb of Husby were too disgusted to eat in their own homes after finding cockroaches in the refrigerator.

According to the Trygg-Hansa insurance company, the picture is the same throughout the country, but the problem has increased most in western Sweden.

And it’s not just cockroaches which are causing problems for Swedish homeowners; bed bugs have proven to be a growing nuisance as well.
Trygg-Hansa’s Håkan Franzén explained that many Swedes unwittingly bring pests home with them upon returning from overseas vacations.

“It’s annoying to discover that you have these creatures in your home and that’s why it often takes a rather long time before people call their insurance companies,” he told SvD.