Sometimes keeping our own homes clean wouldn’t help. It depends on the surroundings as well. I recall, our previous residence although well-kept and maintained by the two of us, it was located amidst a really bad neighbourhood with lot of garbage thrown around in the corner from the nearby residences and a hotel, which made it a perfect breeding ground for mosquitos, rats and cockroaches. Besides, there were a few manholes for the underground drain and cockroaches would nicely play hide-n-seek during the night. At times, when I used to play or watch something staring at the TV during the night keeping our balcony doors open, rats would quickly run from the back of my recliner and I would barely notice them running away! We used to spray some locally available insecticides like Hit and Mortein and even kept rat baits (in several forms!) but that wouldn’t help either. I suppose rats have evolved over time.
However our present residence is very neat and tidy and there is not a single creature inside other than the two of us and maybe the occasional mosquito or the house-fly that would sneak in. But fact remains that basic cleanliness of the people and the surroundings would go a long way in preventing diseases and the carriers that cause them.
