THE HOUSE FLY 55 



showing that the bacilli will pass through the intestinal 

 tract of a fly in an active infective state. 



(8) Flies carry on their mouths (proboscis) putrefying and 

 disease germs on which they have recently fed, and then 

 crawl over food, infecting it, unless shut out by screens. 



(9) Keep flies from the sick, especially those ill with 

 communicable and contagious diseases. If the room is 

 not screened, the patient should be treated under a net, 

 both for safety to others, as well as for individual comfort. 



(10) Screen all food. Apply this rule not only to food 

 prepared at home, but to foodstuffs offered for sale, 

 especially fruits, salads, and other things which do not 

 require to be cooked, for 



(a) Flies crawl over fruits when exposed for sale when 

 unguarded by screens, and the generality of people do 

 not wash fruit before eating it. This is a fruitful source 

 of human infection, particularly if a case of typhoid fever 

 near by is being carelessly handled. 



(b) Don't forget that flies will carry the bacilli of typhoid 

 fever from the stools of the patient (if left exposed and 

 not disinfected), if given an opportunity, to the food in 

 the kitchen and dining-room. This is no conjecture, for 

 the Spanish- American War proved this fact. 



(c) The great secret of how to get rid of flies is cleanli- 

 ness first, and by screening all the openings of the home, 

 especially the kitchen and dining-room. 



To permanently eliminate flies from a city, town, or 

 village, it is necessary to remove, cover up, or chemically 

 treat all kinds of rotting vegetable and animal matter, so 

 that the flies will die out by reason of having no places 



