The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-07-25
DANGER FROM HOUSE FLIES
The H0usehOIed Pest Breeds in Filth
aud is Distributor of Disease.

the housefy is hateful. creature
Not only is it responsible for lines o
worry in the housekecper's face, but j
has beeu proved to bea serious menace
to health. TO begin with, its origil
and habits are such as to put us Oh
our guard. 1t lays its eggs in excre
ment, preferring horse manure, but
that does not offer, readily using any
other. 1t feeds OH the same and Oh
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 bacteriolo'
gy. our case against the fly is no Ion
ger guess work-it has been made tC
walk across the sterile gelatine plate,
and the microscope has later told us
what it fetches and carries. Unlike
the mosquito, the housefy is not q 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 and feed
ing places. On the joint Of meat ex-
posed for sale by the butcher, on the
bread and sweet meats of the cnnfec-
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 enterlc
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, ard for considerable pc
riods of time after recovery and since
the contagion is spread from one per-
son to another solely by these germs
as they find access to water or food, to
guard the water supply from contain.
nation and to forbid the sale of milk
from the dairy farm where any con-
tagious disease exists, is well 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 on
its feet and legs any disease germs
thai may tie in fecal matter, but such
germs taken into its tooy 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 q 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
Iull in the efforts to prevent public
splitting came on the discovery that
tuberculosis germs, exposed to direct
sunlight, must perish IN from twenty.
four to thirty hours, but since we dis
covered that the fly, who greedily
feeds on the sputum, can transport it
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 at
heavy cost that, if the city was to be
freed from yellow fever, the mosquito
must 60, and in the space of few
months, so vigorous was the cam.
paign, the now famous stegomyia or
yellow fever mosquito was nearly ex-
terminated and price is now set on
it's 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 q
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 frepZed
chase to the intruder is not putting in
her work at the most promising end OF
the line. The fly, like the mosquito
is only 10 be destroyed by allowing ii
no breeding place. 1t lays it's eggs in
decaying organic matter, especially in
manure.
Many cities have general laws regar.
ding the cleaning of streets, stables
etc, which too often effect only the re.
moval orwhat is offensive to sight and
smell from the more important streets
Filth left in alleys or dumped in out
lying parts is source of danger which
the city fathers must not ignore. Al
least one city, Philadelphia, has an
ordinance that is abreast with our mos
recent knowledge on this subject. Ir
France during the last winter a, jury
of scientific men awarded u prize O
10000 francs to the author Of a me
moir which outlined method for the
use of"residuum oil' in the destruc
ton of the eggs and larvae of the fly
Two litres of the oil to every square
metre of surface of pit or manue pilt
was found to make protective cover
ing which killed the larzae, prevent
ing the entrance of flies and the hatch
ing of eggs.