114 THE HOUSE FLY DISEASE CARRIER 



brought about by eating or drinking something carry- 

 ing the bacilli. Water, milk, oysters, raw vegetables 

 may and do carry them. They may be carried to food 

 in other ways : by contact ; by dust ; and by certain 

 household insects, such as cockroaches, household ants, 

 and undoubtedly frequently by the typhoid fly, the 

 most numerous of all household insects, and the one 

 which breeds in substances which may be normally 

 swarming with typhoid bacilli. 



Suspicions of the Carriage of Typhoid by Flies 



Probably the first American to point out the prob- 

 able transference of typhoid germs from box privies 

 to food supplies by the agency of flies was Dr. George 

 M. Kober, of Washington, D. C. In "Report on the 

 Prevalence of Typhoid Fever in the District of Colum- 

 bia," published in 1895, under the caption of "Chan- 

 nels of Invasion and Mode of Dissemination," Doctor 

 Kober wrote: 



"The agency of flies and other insects in carrying 

 the germs from box privies and other receptacles for 

 typhoid stools to the food supply cannot be ignored." 

 On the following page he gave an account of certain 

 cases on the Ivy City and Bladensburg Road, in the 

 course of which he used the following words, "There 

 is abundant evidence of unlawful surface pollution, 

 * * * and as the germs find a suitable soil in such 

 surroundings, it is possible that the flies which abound 

 wherever surface pollution exists may carry the germs 

 into the houses and contaminate the food. * * * 



