DISEASES BORNE BY NON-BITING FLIES 115- 



organism, usually found in the eyes, and often associated with conjunc- 

 tivitis, was isolated by Torrey (1912) on the surface of city caught flies. 



Thallophyta: Fungi: Schizomycetes : Spirillaceae 



Spirillum (Vibrio) cholem Koch, the cause of ASIATIC CHOLERA, 

 may be carried by flies. The connection of flies with the prevalence of 

 cholera was first noted by Nicholas (1873). Maddox (1885) first per- 

 formed experiments with CaMiphora vomitoria Linnaeus and Eristalis 

 teriax Linnaeus as well as other insects and determined microscopically 

 the presence of the motile cholera vibrios in the feces. Tizzoni and 

 Cattoni (1886) caught flies in cholera wards and after several hours 

 obtained characteristic cultures of the organism. Many other authors, as 

 Sawtchenko (1892), .Simmonds (1892), Uff'elmann (1892), Macrae 

 (1894)), have furnished proofs of fly dissemination of the cholera vibrio, a 

 summary of which can be found in the books by Graham-Smith and 

 Hewitt. 



SUMMARY OF PLANT ORGANISMS 



A brief survey of the data presented above will perhaps help to imprint 

 the gravity of the fly menace on all who read this. Sixty-three minute 

 plant organisms have been shown to be transmissible by domestic flies. 

 Forty-four of these organisms have been found on or in flies caught in 

 cities or buildings, in other words, were naturally carried by so-called 

 "wild flies." Among these forty-four organisms naturally carried by flies 

 were several normal inhabitants of milk, also various normal inhabitants 

 of the human and of animal intestines, which could only be taken iip from 

 excrement. Some of these organisms are taken from eyes, some from 

 sputum, some from decaying vegetable matter, others from dairy products. 

 The fly containing such organisms betrays its habits. We find the 

 organisms of conjunctivitis, infantile diarrhea, sour milk, gas gangrene, 

 enteritis, guinea pig septicaemia, leprosy, paratyphoid A, and paraty- 

 phoid B fevers, bubonic plague, green pus, food poisoning, tuberculosis, 

 typhoid fever, anthrax, rodent plague, gonorrhea, abscesses, erysipelas, 

 bacillary dysentery, and cholera, and possibly cerebrospinal meningitis, 

 normally carried by flies which frequent our houses, visit our bodies and 

 pollute our food with their excreta. We also find experimental evidence 

 that these same flies can carry the organisms of diphtheria, gastroenter- 

 itis, and other pathogenic conditions. 



In other words, it would seem that non-blood-sucking flies can carry 

 any bacterial or coccal disease in which the organism may be reached by 

 the fly on the body of the person, in his sputum, or his excreta, and 

 undoubtedly the same is true of such diseases of animals. 



