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SOME PRACTICAL METHODS ADOPTED FOR THE CONTROL OF FLIES 



IN THE EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN. 



By Capt. J. Davidson, D.Sc, F.E.S., R.A.M.C. (T.). 



The control of flies is a serious problem in the Egyptian Campaign. In desert 

 camps flies develop at an extraordinary rate, unless rigid sanitary precautions are 

 taken. In native villages they seem to be taken as a matter of course, and it is a 

 common sight to see fruit and food of all kinds, in shops and on street-vendors' 

 carts, swarming with flies. Small children suffering from conjunctivitis are seen in 

 the streets with their eyes thickly covered with flies. Flies of the house-fly type 

 (Mused) are the most troublesome, although blue-bottles (Calliphora), green-bottles 

 (Lucilia) and Sarcophaga are found. These latter are often met with in the desert 

 in the small clumps of palm trees known as " hods." 



Owing to the conditions of active service the writer was unable to obtain detailed 

 accurate data of the various species met with, or as to their life-history. During the 

 advance of the troops across the Sinai desert, one's time was fully taken up with 

 practical methods on a large scale for keeping down flies. 



Flies are present in Egypt practically all the year round, although during the 

 height of the hot weather, and again about December, they are not so numerous. 



Whenever the troops halted in the desert and formed a temporary camp a high 

 standard of sanitation was insisted on, however short the stay. In this way 

 breeding places were kept under control and fly-breeding was reduced to a minimum. 

 When troops march out from a camp area crowds of flies are always carried with 

 them. They may sometimes be seen in hundreds on the shady areas on mens' backs 

 and on horses. When the troops arrive at a new camp area these flies soon lay eggs, 

 and unless strict sanitary precautions are taken, a fly-plague results. 



One has only to experience the worry and inconvenience caused to tired and sick 

 men by flies under the trying heat of the African desert, and to understand that 

 diarrhoea, dysentery, typhoid and cholera may be spread by them, to realise how 

 important it is to suppress them rigorously. 



Sanitation in Egypt has reached a very high degree of efficiency, especially in the 

 base camps. In the desert, the mobile conditions of active service present more 

 difficulties, but notwithstanding this, a really efficient system of sanitation is carried 

 out, the beneficial results of which are undoubtedly proved by the low sickness rate 

 obtaining amongst the troops. 



An account of the author's experiences when commanding a Sanitary Section in 

 the Egyptian Expeditionary Force during the year 1916-17 may be helpful to others 

 interested in the fly problem. The personnel of the section included 25 N.C.O.'s and 

 men specially trained in sanitation. 



The aim was to inhibit fly-breeding and to prevent the spread of disease. Special 

 treatment of breeding places and the destruction of flies by spraying, poisoned bait, 

 traps, etc., were carried out. The three favourite breeding places for flies of the 

 house-fly type are (1) horse-manure, (2) accumulations of camp and cook-house refuse, 

 (3) latrine trenches ; while those of the blue-bottle type favour putrefying animal 

 matter. 



