Show transmission OF DISEASE BY FLIES by lydia holmgren Ho lingren webb hender son contest it has la a been conclusively demonstrated edit alve over r and over again that insects play a definite rolo role in the transmission of disease many ot of the ma most 8 t serious ills ot of man are convoyed conveyed irom from person to person thru abru the medium of mosquitoes flies lice ticks and other forms of vermin how the transmission of disease is effected tho the particular insects acting as carriers and the bic means of combating such pests all become matters with which the public is concerned of the natural enemies ot of man mail the common housefly or typhoid fly as it has rightfully been named unquestionably tion ably takes precedence over all others it is the most common and widely distributed of all kinds of flies this insect is is ordinarily present in all parts of the tha world and lives in practically any climate adapted to man nine tenths of the flies found within or near dwellings belong to tills this group although there are a number of other species that so closely resemble house flies in appearance that differentiation way may be impossible by others than experts only recently has hag it been possible to convict this insect of the many crimes and misdemeanors of which it is guilty we now positively know that flies instead of being harmless insects of moment only when they invade our food supplies are in reality highly dangerous and that a single fly may be responsible for the development of many cases of typhoid fever or other illness of a serious nature in order that we may fully understand why flies are such dangerous agents for the dissemination of disease germs let us observe briefly the structure of the the house fly its rapidity of reproduction its habits and its range the wings are re attached the tact thorax and are character char characterized acte ri ze ei by y daylah dark lines nes or veins extending thru the wing membrane the markings vary with the different species the fly has three pairs of legs all thickly covered with hair both the legs ana wings are admirably adapted to the mechanical transference of substances with which they come in contact but the legs especially as can be conceived thickly covered with fine minute hairs constitute an excellent harbor for germs and a means of conveying them from place to place and from person to person it is this interchange ter change of material derived from filthy and polluted sources which constantly expose man to the danger of flies and the tact fact furthermore that these dreadful pests reproduce hen fast makes them all tilo the more important as agents tor for the transmission ot of disease flies are extremely tr prolific the eggs deposited by the female usually number from one to two hundred the eggs hatch in twenty four hours after they are de posted into a larva r tage stage in this thil stage they rest tor for six or seven days when they enter the pupa stage here they remain for six or seven days until adult maturity is reached within fourteen days to two weeks bom the day the eggs were deposited the adult reproduce at once and in a r single ingle short summer oi or in the months july august and september when they are most prolific there will be over ten generations of file flies aa favorite places that serve as the best mediums for tho the reproduction of flies are decaying vegetable matter fermenting kitchen refuse animal matter and especially out houses and stables we can hardly conceive of the many millions of flies that hatch in these unclean places in fourteen days and the file many billions that hatch within the entire summer surn mer in III its ita habits the fly Is probably the most objectionable insect with which man comes in contact it not only reproduces in filth but it continues to frequent objectionable material thru out the days of its existence leaving it only to invade the resl residence ance of man contaminate ills his food and to spread disease flies files are vry viry v ry industrious in their search for food even it if it is right handy they crawl over ever its surface in search with their proboscis iscis for more dainty morsels on their excursions of this character they may carry with them particularly an on the hairy portions of their legs the organisms or of infectious disease the eggs 0 of various parasites and organic filth i should they next visit our tables this dangerous material Is distributed over our food when food so contaminated Is ia taken I 1 into the stomach man Is directly infected and may develop any one of a nu number in her of 0 clang dangerous e rou 9 el diseases 1 sea 8 e a the range ot or flight ot of the fly in not ordinarily great they usually remain within two hundred or three hundred yards from the point of their origin therefore There toro it if flies are found in a particular neighborhood it Is fair proof that they developed in the immediate vicinity it would be impossible for a fly to come from perry to brigham except on the car or it would bo be impossible for a fly to bo be in the first ward meeting house one sunday and in the fourth ward the next sunday thus we may safely conclude that if flies a are re found about any residence they must have originated somewhere in the yard having touched up to this point on some facts of the fly its structure its habits its fertility and nd its scope of 0 activity I 1 ahal now proceed to tell you of certain unsanitary conditions that actually exist together with a few specific epidemic diseases and the way in which flies were the cause of their transmission when it is realized that milk which is one of the best in media tor the growth lof of bacteria may be contaminated by flies merely thru the act ot of feeding and that clean flies may even derive infection from those which gave ave but recently visited polluted places the dangers of food contamination tami nation may be conceived at certain a seasons of the year large numbers of flies collect upon the vats in which milk and cream are bel being stored in dairies and creameries crea meries many of f the flies fall in their bodies being sprained out when the cream is sent to joithe the churn if any of these flies carry carry typhoid bacilla these are wa by the milk and remain in the litter itter a and nd cheese made from it y r I 1 D dr r job john n R mohler of t the lie bureau of animal industry U S department of agriculture informs us that from the investigations made in ills his office show that typhoid bacilli will live in butter under common market conditions for one hundred and fifty days and still be able to grow when transferred to suitable conditions thus the eating of butter contaminated in this way way may account for very many cases of fever the cause of which cannot be otherwise traced typhoid fever is the file most common and important infection of man conveyed by flies and mind you man is the only animal prone to typhoid fever it Is essentially a disease of filth but unless means are established for the transference of such filth to the mouth of persons the infection never develops in the united states during 1 1914 there were over fourteen thousand persons or two persons per hour that died from typhoid fever ever and ten tell times that bat number suffered from rom the anfe infection action this being several times higher than that of many civilized countries for example la in munich a city in western europe europ in 1912 there was one person in every hundred thousand that dies to six per one hundred thousand in cleveland ohio there were nine persons in paris to every every twenty two in baltimore ti more this proves that the people of the united states talk about sanitation but the civilized countries of europe really practice it it or let us take tahe the death rate la in utah from typhoid fever per every one hundred thousand population in 1906 it was per cent ot or 39 persons per hour the average for the last nine years yeara is per cent or 32 persons per hour allow me to call your attention to the agency of flies files in the transmission of typhoid fever during the span ish american war out of the ninety two regiments of men there were 87 per cent that died from typhoid fever or from the total number of men observed there were 16 23 2 3 men that died from typhoid fever while one was killed by the spanish bullets think of it this great number of men died from an altogether preventable disease the conditions which prevailed during the spanish american war exists in thousands of american communities today we look with horror upon tho the awful and unnecessary sacrifice of lives which then ensued yet within our own vision identical conditions continued on pas page two transmission 0 F DISEASE BY FLIES continued from first page prevail and we remain quite undisturbed now let us turn our attention to a second disease and one analogous anao gous to typhoid fever frequently conveyed convey rd d by flies and tills this Is summer diarrhoea this nis Is more a disease ot of children but adults are also sus cep septable table annually in tho the united states there are infants or 17 infants per day that die from this disease or et us take the figure fl uro from our own state the average for intestinal rouble taken tor for the last nine years s per ceel per every peo e or 46 people particularly children that die per hour the tha lafed ious nature o of chiq till dise disease se has now been definitely determined first the disease exists in th summer when the files are known to be prevalent its incidence varies erectly with the incidence of flies or to make this statement more clear it has been graphically shown on cross section paper that the line representing presenting rc the season and the one mp representing resenting the alps almost exactly correspond this in itself is suggestive and now again allow me to name us as a third infectious disease cholera together with its cousin the disease family dysentery boh are primarily intestinal affections conveyed in the same manner as typhoid fever fortunately cholera Is a rare affection in this country originating only from imported cases but epidemics of dysentery are not uncommon being especially prevalent in institutions u camps and districts where unsanitary conditions prevail or where e the hies files have free access to go and come as they choose lastly I 1 shall nome name the much dreaded disease tuberculosis this is carried by flies coming in with the sputum ot of persons who have already contracted it and subsequently carries the infect infectious fous materials on their bodies to food materials flies may also carry tubercle bacilli within their bodies when they are permitted to feed on tubercular sputum they may also serve to carry in a similar manner the microorganisms ot at a number of other infectious diseases as diphtheria erysipelas si and possibly small pox tho wo we have not as yet positive proof of the conveyance of small pox in this manner now ladies and gentlemen I 1 hope eliop e I 1 have up to this point made you understand der stand that the fly by virtue of its very v cry structure its nature and its hab its ts is a very potent agent for tile the widespread wide spread of certain infectious diseases and I 1 have attempted to mane make clear to a greater extent the conditions that exist right about us as well as is more striking cases the prevalence the dreadfulness of the diseases of which the fly is the great agent in their I 1 feel that my discussion would not be complete without proposing to you what has been found to be a partially excluding process of the fly by experience and by observation before the fly emerges as an adult or white while it is in the larva and pupa stages tile the following measures are effective all rubbish should be removed from yards there should be no decaying dec vying vegetable matter fermenting kitchen refuse should bo be properly disposed of there should be no animal matter above all elso else es should be protected by screening and there should be a dis infecting and proper disposal of stable refuse this material should be moved at least every week or ten days in the summer without properly observing these last two urea mentioned the fly campaigns that are instituted following cannot and will not be successfully cess fully effective for the cipple reason that as fast as the flies are killed off there are millions being born bom and again it if these measures measured were properly observed there would not be rom 15 to 20 bushels of flies files to catch in brigham city next season as there were caught in the campaign last summer however until this the desired state is 18 reached there is perhaps no no better plan of doing away with the flies that are already here than the fly campaigns and at such a small expense it cost the city last buemer only when the flies files have reached the adult stage these measures are et fec tive together with with the fly fix campaigns ahey 1 I hey may bo killed by poisoning fly traps may be purchased lor the purpose ot of 1 catching them swatting Is and sticky fly papers are fairly rapacious raca cious even tho they are not a mark ot of good house keeping kc iho great statement that confronts us today Is lither either man must kill the llie fly or the fly will kill the man let us make the popular slogan of 0 today fit lu in with the eradication ol of ies preparedness should ring il ait every ear car and we should all stand ev ever r ready to help exterminate the fly |