1 88 OTHER BACTERIAL DISEASES 



OpJitJialiuia. 



As early as 1862 Budd considered that Egyptian ophthalmia 

 was carried by flies, and Laveran (1880), at Briska, was of the 

 same opinion. Howe (1888) gave an interesting account of his 

 observations on the subject. " He referred to the extraordinary 

 prevalence of purulent ophthalmia among natives up and down 

 the river Nile, and to the extraordinary abundance of the flies in 

 that country. He spoke of the dirty habits of the natives and of 

 their remarkable indifference to the visits of flies, not only 

 children but adults allowing flies to settle in swarms about their 

 eyes sucking the secretions, and never making any attempt to 

 drive them away. He called attention to the fact that the number 

 of cases of this eye disease always increases when the flies are 

 present in the greatest numbers and that the eye trouble is most 

 prevalent in the place where flies are most numerous. In the 

 desert where flies are absent, eyes as a rule are unaffected. He 

 made an examination of the flies captured upon diseased eyes, 

 and found on their feet bacteria which were similar to those 

 found in the conjunctival secretion " (Howard, 1911, p. 168). 



" Welander (1896) observed an interesting case wherein an 

 old bedridden woman in a hospital became infected. This 

 patient's bed was alongside of that of another patient who had 

 blennorrhoea, but a screen, which did not reach to the ceiling 

 separated the beds. All means of infection, except through the 

 agency of flies, appeared to be excluded. Welander found that 

 flies bore Yw'wx^ gonococci upon their feet three hours after they 

 had been soiled with secretion, for they infected ascites agar 

 plates with which they came in contact " (Nuttall and Jepson, 

 1909, p. 21). 



Nuttall and Jepson (1909) consider that "the evidence 

 regarding the spread of Egyptian ophthalmia by flies appears to 

 be conclusive, and the possibility of gonorrhceal secretions being 

 conveyed by flies cannot be denied." 



Plague. 



In the light of modern investigations relating to the dissemi- 

 nation of plague it seems most improbable that flies pla}- a part 



