The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1917-03-31

est menace to human life In temperate
regions the highest medical and scien-
tihc authorities in the United States
- and Europe are now generally united In
IR@-I declaring.
ES The dissemination through this in
sect of the epidemic, infantile paralysis,
which last year killed thousands of New York's
children Is but one of the many counts in the in
dictment against the filthy fly. Infantile paraly-
sis is peculiarly shocking because 1t deforms chill
dren so cruelty, but in Its destruction of life il is
far less serious than typhoid fever, which we
now know to be largely a fly-borne disease. SINH
larly the fly probably causes far more mortality
through its "instrumentality in spreading tubercu-
losis than as a carrier of infantile paralysis.
All over the world scientists are studying the
fly, discovering new dangers to public health
caused by it and suggesting new methods of ex-
terminating it.
Or. L. D. Howard, the chief entomologist of the
United States government, now suggests that the
name typhoid fly" should be given to the common
house fly, because the latter name fails to suggest
the deadly character.
Mr.. Howard tells how the deadly character of
the fly was proved by feeding flies with pure Gull
lures of the typhoid bacillus. Material from the
bodies of the insects and fy-specks made by them
were then examined and found to contain the
bacilli. This material was injected into animals
and proved to be virulent.
Flies Garry Typhoid.
There were 100000 cases of typhoid in the Unit
ed States last year, and over $1,000 proved fatal,
During the Spanish-American war flies which had
swarmed over infected matter in the nme-strewn
pits walked over the soldiers food, leaving traces
of lime. Many cases of typhoid occurred. killing
far more than bullets. officers whose tents were
screened from flies showed fewer cases. Typhoid
disappeared in winter, when flies were no longer
about. Infected water was not an important fac
tor in these camps, but a majority of cases must
have been due to the flies. More than so per cent
of the total deaths in the war were caused by
typhoid.
The danger of infection is greatly increased by
the fact that typhoid germs may remain active in
Il persons intestines long after he has recovered
from fever. DR.. George A. Soper recently discov-
cred a case of a cook employed by several fami-
lies in the vicinity of New York. She had recov-
cred completely from typhoid fever, but she gave
the disease to members of every family where she
was employed. Four other cases of this kind are
mentioned by Doctor Howard.
Spread Enteric Fever.
During the Boer war 100000 British soldiers
were laid up at one time by enteric fever, now
shown to have been spread by flies. P%rofiting by
such lessons, the United States authorities on the
Panama canal work protected refuse against flies,
and this, together with the careful screening of
houses, adopted primarily as a defense against
malaria, reduced typhoid to a negligible quantity.
A long series of observations is being conducted,
showing that flies play an important part in
spreading Asiatic cholera. The British warship
Superb, in the Mediterranean, suffered from an
epidemic of cholera, which continued while at sea,
but on the disappearance of flies it ceased. Pro-
fessors Tizzoni and Cattani of Italy, in 1886, found
active cholera germs in the deposits of flies caught
in the cholera wards at Bologna, Italy.
Cost Millions a Year.
Doctor Howard says the decrease in the vital
assets of our country through typhoid fever in a
single year is more than 350,O00,000
The typhoid fly is also a disseminator of tuber-
CulOSiS DIR Frederick ~ Lord tha BOSTON Scien.
fist, says:
"Flies may INCEST tubercular sputum and eM-
crete tubercle bacilli, the virulence of which may
last for at least fifteen days"
Matter from tuberculous patients must, there
fore, not be allowed to come in contact with flies,
good and that of the rest of the community.
Drs. w. NJ. Esten and c.. ]. Mason of Storrs ex-
pertinent station, Connecticut, who counted $50 to
6,000, 600 bacteria on flies, observed that these in
sects carried contamination from the pigpens to
the milk in dairies.
Life History of Fly.
"The only remedy for this serious condition of
things they say, sis to remove the pigpen as far
as possible from the dairy and dwelling house.
Extreme care should be taken in keeping flies
out of the COW stable, milk rooms and dwellings"
Doctor Howard has traced the life history Of
the fly, finding that 120 eggs are laid by a single
female, and that In washington In midsummer q
generation is produced every ten days. In e-
perimenting he found that his flies would breed
only in horse waste, but the evidence indicates
that they breed In various kinds Of filth. His con-
clusIon, however, is that the vast majority must
come from horse stables.
As tested out and by the United
States department of agriculture, sprinkling and
soaking such a pest heap with a solution of one
half pound of powdered hellebore in ten gallons of
water (stirring well and allowing 1t to stand for
"a hours), will destroy all the maggots, eggs and
larvae which are then present. Almost equally
good results, although not quite so certain, can be
secured by sprinkling freely with powdered borax
and then pouring water over, so as to carry it
down all through the mass. The amount of helle-
bore solution required is about a gallon to the
bushel of manure.
A recent calculation of the hy's rate of increase,