The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-07-18
DANGER FROM HOUSE FLIES,
The HousehOIed Pest Breeds In Filth
and is Distributor Of Disease.

The HOuSehOleu rest BreeuS III Flu
aud is Distributor Of Disease.
MARY Hinman Abel, in the Delinea
tor.)
Taken collectively, and in summer
the househy is hateful. creature
Not only is it responsible for lines o
worry in the housekeeper's face, but i
has been proved to bea serious meDac'
to health. TO begin with, its origil
and habits are such as to put US OIL
our guard. 1t lays its eggs in excre
ment, preferring horse manure, but i
that does not offer, readily using any
other. 1t feeds on the same aud OF
the spittum of diseased throats and
lungs, on refuse of all kinds, and il
bears on its hairy feet and legs parti
cles of these substances.
Thanks to the science of bacterlolO'
gy. our case against the fly Is no lon'
ger guess work-it has been made &c
walk across the sterile gelatine plate,
aud the microscope has later told ue
what it fe,ches and carries. Unlike
the mosquito, the housefy is not a bi'
ter-but it has its own way OF carry
ing cOntagion. 1t deposits, where
ever it goes disease and disease germs
may abound in its breeding aud feed
ing places. On the joint of meat ex-
posed for sale by the butcher, on the
bread and sweet meats of the confec-
TONER'S counter, on the edge of the
milk pail, on the kitchen and dining
room tables they have been found.
TO understand fully the possible
danger of allowing this insect access
to our food supplies, we must remem-
Der that in the disease called enteric
those affecting the intestinal tract,
such as cholera, dysentery and ty-
phoid fever-multitudes of germs pc
culiar to the disease are voided in the
excreta, not only during the attacks
but for some days before the disease is
recognized, a1d for considerable pc
riods of time after recovery, and since
The contagion is spread from one per-
son to another solely by these germs
rs they find access to water or food, to
guard the water supply from contain
Ination and to forbid the sale of milk
from the dairy farm. where any con-
tagious disease exists, is we'll recog-
nized as the first duty of the Health
Board: but comparatively recent is
the knowledge that flies also carry the
germ of these diseases.
Not only does the fly carry about OIL
ITS feet and legs any disease germs
that may he in fecal matter, but such
germs taken into its booy in food are
known TO remain alive in intestines
and also for days after they are ejec-
led in the specks. BY recent expert.
ments this has been proved TRUE OF
both the tuberculosis and the typhoid
bacillus, the germs in the "specks"
having actually given the disease
from nine to fifteen days after it was
deposited.
This is very important point, as it
establishes on new ground The danger
of spittiug in the streets or where ever
flies can have access to the sputum. A
rull in the efforts to prevent public
splitting came on the discovery that
tuberculosis germs, exposed to direct
.unlight, must perish in from twenty
lour to thirty hours, but since we dis
covered that the fly, who greedily
feeds on the sputum, can transport 1t
to considerable distances and keep it
alive virulent for many days, the spit
ting nuisance has assumed new impor-
tance.
The epidemic of typhoid fever in
Chicago in 1902 also fixed the guilt on
the fly. 1t was especially severe in the
Nineteenth ward, which furnished one
seventh of the deaths, while contain.
ing but one-thirty sixth of the city's
population. This locality did not
differ from the rest of the city in it's
water or its food supply, but it did diff
fer in having more than so per cent OF
it's houses without sanitary plumbing,
the water being insufficient. Flies
caught in undrained closets, on the
fences and in the room of patient
were proved to carry the germ.
What, then, is to be done to. protect
our food supply from this disgusting
and dangerous insect? 1t will be well
to note, fret, what has been accom-
plished in the extirpation of other in
sect pests.
A year ago New Orleans learned al
heavy cost that, if the city was to be
freed from yellow fever, the mosquito
must 60, and in the space of few
months, 30 vigorous was the cam.
paign, the now famous stegomyia OF
yellow fever mosquito was nearly ex.
terminated and price Is now set on
its head. This result was brought
about by covering their breeding pla'
ces with kerosene and by. the thorough
fumigation of houses.
In any northern city the task ought
to be far easier one, on account of 9
more favorable climate and more
cleanly and intelligent population
and yet without martial law or the
fear of an epidemic that will destroy
property as we'll as lives, it seems i'm
possible to set in motion the agencies
that will rid us of insect pests.
The housewife who gives frenzed
chase to the intruder is not putting in
her work at the most promising end o
the line. The fly, like the mosquito
is only TO be destroyed by allowing /,
no breeding place. 1t lays its eggs In
decaying organic matter, especially II
manure.
Many cities have general laws regar
ding the cleaning of streets, stables
etc. which too often effect only the re
movaI orwhat is offensive to sight anC
smell from the more important streets
Filth left in alleys or dumped in out
lying parts is q source of danger which
the city fathers must not ignore. A
least one city, Philadelphia, has ar
ordinance that is abreast with our mos
recent knowledge on this subject. II
France during the last winter a, jury
of scientific men awarded y prize o
10000 francs to the author of me