REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I908 37 



3 An investigation of the sanitary conditions of this region shows that many of the 

 street sewers are too small and that only 48% of the houses have sanitary plumbing. Of 

 the remaining 52%, 7% have defective plumbing, 22% water-closets with intermittent 

 water supply, 11% have privies connected with the sewer but without water supr>ly and 

 12% have privies with no sewer connection. 



4 The streets in which the sanitary arrangements are the worst had the largest number 

 of cases of typhoid fever during this epidemic, irrespective of poverty of the inhabitants. 



5 Flies caught in two undrained privies, on the fences of two yards, on the walls of two 

 houses and in the room of a typhoid patient, were used to inoculate 18 tubes and from five 

 of these tubes the typhoid bacillus was isolated. 



6 Many discharges from typhoid patients are left exposed in privies or yards and Hies 

 may be an important adjunct in the dissemination of the typhoid infection. 



1903 Martin, A. W. Flies in Relation to Typhoid Fever and Sinnmer 



Diarrhoea. Public Health, 15:652-53 



Each succeeding year confirms my observation in 1898, that the annual epidemic o» 

 diarrhoea and of typhoid is connected with the appearance of the common house fly. . . 

 The annual epidemic of these two diseases begins and ends with the appearance and dis- 

 appearance of the domestic fly. 



1903 Nash, J. T. C. The Etiology of Summer Diarrhoea. The Lan- 

 cet, 164:330 



Records no mortality from diarrhoea among infants at Southend during July and August 

 1902, this immunity being accompanied by the almost complete absence of the house fly. 

 In September the fly made its appearance and coincidentally, epidemic diarrhoea. The 

 year preceding had 23 deaths during this period. 



1904 Hayward, E. H. The Fly as a Carrier of Tuberculosis Infec- 

 tion. N. Y. Med. Jour. 80:643-44 



Flies feeding on tuberculous sputum in six hours passed tubercular bacilli unimpaired 



1904 Lord, F, T. Flies and Tuberculosis. Bost. Med. & Surg. Jour. 

 151:651-54 



The experiments show 



1 Flies may ingest tubercular sputum and excrete tubercle bacilli, the virulence of 

 which may last for at least 15 days. 



2 The danger of human infection from tubercular fly specks is by the ingestion of the 

 specks on food. Spontaneous liberation of tubercular bacilli from fly specks is unlikely 

 (experiment B), if mechanically disturbed infection of the surrounding air may occur. As 

 a corollary to these conclusions it is suggested that 



3 Tubercular material (sputum, pus from discharging sinuses, fecal matter from patients 

 with intestinal tuberculosis) should be carefully protected from flies lest they act as dis- 

 seminators of the tubercular bacilli. 



4 During the fly season greater attention should be paid to the screening of rooms and 

 hospital wards containing patients with tuberculosis, and laboratories where tubercular 

 material is examined. 



5 As these precautions would not eliminate fly infection by patients at large, food stuffs 

 should be protected from flies who may already have ingested tubercular material. 



190S Cobb, J. O. Is the Common House Fly a Factor in the Spread 

 of Tuberculosis? Am. Med. 9:475-77 



Refers to experiments by Hayward and Hoffman showing that tubercle bacilli can be 

 ingested and discharged by the house fly with umiiminished virulence. He holds that the 

 bacilli may enter the system through the digestive tract rather than by the lungs. He 

 calls attention to the universal prevalence of house flies about stores of all kinds dealing in 

 human foods, and states ihat here we have a most prolific source of infection. He claims 

 to have collected reliable data from all over the world on this point. He states that army 

 medical officers from the Philippines find that cholera was continually spread by street 

 venders and small shopkeepers. 



1905 Melander, A. L. The Common House Fly a Dangerous Pest. 

 Wash. Agric. I'.xp. Sta. Press Hul. p. 1-7 

 A summarized account of the life history, habits and methods of control. 



