A study was carried out to determine the role of cockroaches as reservoirs and vectorsrnof food-borne bacterial pathogens in some hospitals and food handling establishmentsrnin Addis Ababa. A total of 1600 adult cockroaches were captured aseptically from eightrnstudy sites between December 2002 and June 2003, and all were identified as Blattellarngermanica. Ten cockroaches were pulled as one sample from each of the eight studyrnareas and killed with chloroform. Using selective media, their external surface wash andrninternal (gut) homogenates, after adequate decontamination of the extemal surface,rnwere culturally examined for the presence of Salmonella, Shigella, Escherichia colirn0157:H7, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus. We have also initiated challengernstudies to evaluate survival and excretion of Salmonella B, Shigella B, andrnStaphylococcus aureus in B. germanica following ingestion of 10 6 CFU/g ofrncontaminated food. In the process of isolation and identification of the test pathogens,rn12 Salmonella spp., 2 Shigella B, 2 E. coli 0157, 17 S. aureus and 25 B. cereus isolatesrnwere made. Furthermore, most of the isolates were resistant to two or morernantimicrobial drugs in a susceptibility test. In the challenge experiment, culturalrnexamination of fecal pellets showed that Salmonella and S. aureus could be excretedrnfor 35 and 14 days post infection, respectively. However, culture examination of fecalrnpellets of Shigella B infected cockroaches failed to yield the bacterium for 30 days postrninfection. These results indicate that cockroaches (B. germanica) are the possiblernreservoirs and vectors of multi-drug resistant food-borne pathogens in hospitals andrnfood-catering areas that may be responsible for nosocomial and community acquiredrninfections. Hence, there is a need to implement effective cockroach controlling programs focusing on hygiene. Continuous surveillance and rational use of antimicrobialrndrugs are also required in order to minimize the emergence and spread of drug resistantrnpathogenic bacteria by cockroaches. Further work is essential to establish the naturalrntransmission of human food-bome diseases by cockroaches