7 o 



Insects and Disease 



remain virulent for at least fifteen days. Thus we 

 see again the danger that may lurk in the too 

 familiar " fly-specks." 



Although it is generally supposed that the flea is 

 solely responsible for the spread of the bubonic 

 plague and no doubt is the principal distributing 

 agent, the fact must not be overlooked that the 

 house-fly may also be of considerable importance 

 in this connection. Carefully planned experiments 

 have shown that flies that have become infected by 

 being fed on plague-infected material may carry 

 the germs for several days and that they may die 

 of the disease. During plague epidemics flies may 

 become infected by visiting the sores on human or 

 rat victims or by feeding on dead rats or on the ex- 

 creta of sick patients, and an infected fly is always a 

 menace should it visit our food or open wounds or 

 sores. Anthrax bacilli are carried about and 

 deposited by flies showing the possibility of the 

 disease being spread in this way. 



Some believe that leprosy, smallpox and many 

 other diseases are carried by the house-fly, so it is 

 little wonder that it is fast losing its standing as a 

 household companion and that we are beginning to 

 regard it not only as a nuisance but as a source of 

 danger which should no longer be tolerated in any 

 community. 



