REPORT OF THE STATE EXTOMOLOC.IST I908 3 1 



though there may be a question as to how generally flies are re- 

 sponsible for the dissemination of this disease. Parke admits the 

 possibilities of flies distributing, in addition to those mentioned 

 above, plague, trachoma, septicemia, erysipelas and leprosy. Fur- 

 thermore, there are those who would hold flies responsible for the 

 more frequent new cases which occur in the zone immediately sur- 

 rounding the smallpox hospital and which may be due either to 

 the wafting out of infected particles or their carriage by flies. 

 The latter is considered the more probable. Howe, according to 

 the statement of Dr Howard, has demonstrated that the purulent 

 conjunctivitis of the Egyptians is spread by the house fly. The 

 experiments of Grassi show that the eggs of Taenia, Trichoceph- 

 alus and Oxyuris pass uninjured through the alimentary tract 

 of flies. 



Sanitary and control measures. It is perhaps needless to add, 

 in view of the foregoing, that the greatest care should be taken to 

 exclude flies from the sick room, especially in the case of con- 

 tagious diseases. The flies are not only annoying to the patient 

 but may aid in carrying the disease to others. The proper dis- 

 posal of infected discharges such as those from typhoid patients 

 should never be neglected. Vessels which have contained any such 

 material should be thoroughly cleaned and never left w^here flies 

 may gain access to the infection. 



All food, particularly that eaten without cooking, should be care- 

 fully protected from flies by the use of screens. This is especially 

 true of milk, since it affords a favorable medium for the multipli- 

 cation of certain disease germs. This applies to dealers in food 

 supplies as well as to the home. An important step toward better 

 sanitation would be taken if the public refused to patronize stores 

 and eating places overrun by flies. 



A large reduction in the number of house flies found in most 

 places is thoroughly practical. This end can be best attained by 

 doing away with conditions favorable to the unrestricted multipli- 

 cation of this pest. The first step is to prevent flies from breeding 

 in horse manure and other waste products from the stable. All 

 manure should be placed in a fly proof receptacle or the accumu- 

 lation treated daily with small quantities of chlorid of lime. If 

 all manure is removed from the stable at intervals of three days 

 and spread upon the field, there will be comparatively little breed- 

 ing. Some one of these measures can be applied to every stable in 

 cities and villages. The farmer, if unable to carr}' out any of the 



