LITERATURE REVIEW 

 The House Fly 

 History and Economic Importance 



The house fly, Musca domestica. (L.), is a major economic pest of 

 livestock and poultry. In 1977 the poultry industry in Florida lost 

 an estimated S5-6 million due to flies (Sutler, 1973). The mere 

 presence of house flies in great numbers indicates the need for improved 

 sanitation measures (Scudder, 19^9) and may trigger legal action. 



From early 3ib!ica! times, when swarms of flies ravaged Egypt, 

 through ancient history (Clouds ley-Thompson , 1976), and up to the pre- 

 sent, flies have been noted as pests (Greenberg, 1973). Flies fulfill 

 all the conditions required of a disease vector (Greenberg, 1971), and 

 have been rated second only to man as the most important animal in the 

 transfer of human disease (Scudder, 19^9). A single fly may carry more 

 than 1 million bacterial cells. Any particular fly may be contaminated 

 with more than 100 species of pathogenic organisms capable of causing 

 such diseases as dysentary, typhoid fever, cholera, salmonellosis, 

 anthrax, poliomyelitis, and hepatitis. Flies may also be contaminated 

 with eggs of nematodes and cestodes (James and Harwood, 1969). Books 

 by Greenberg (1971, 1973), Hewitt (1914), Lindsay (1956), and West 

 (1951) should be consulted for in-depth details of fly-borne diseases. 



What makes the house fly sc important in these disease transmission 

 cycles is its close coexistance with man, its consumption of coth con- 

 taminated and uncontaminated food, its great flight activity and 



