Houseflies Can Spread These Diseases, Be Careful!

The next time you try eating snacks from a roadside vendor, you need to be careful. If you see a housefly hovering around the food then you need to avoid it, as this can lead to numerous health issues.

In a new study, researchers have found that flies carry hundreds of different species of bacteria, many of which are harmful to humans. The researchers from the Pennsylvania State University in the US had taken into account microbiomes of 116 houseflies and blowflies for the study.

These flies carry different species of harmful bacteria and spreads the disease. Hence, the researchers have warned people against eating foods outside and also during picnics.

"We believe that this may show a mechanism for pathogen transmission that has been overlooked by public health officials, and flies may contribute to the rapid transmission of pathogens in outbreak situations," said Donald Bryant, from the Pennsylvania State University.

During the study, the researchers were able to investigate the microbial content of individual fly body parts, including legs and wings. The legs appear to transfer most of the microbial organisms from one surface to another, said Stephan Schuster, from the Pennsylvania State University.

"The legs and wings show the highest microbial diversity in the fly body, suggesting that bacteria use the flies as airborne shuttles. It may be that bacteria survive their journey, growing and spreading on a new surface" said Schuster.

In fact, the study shows that each step of hundreds that a fly has taken leaves behind a microbial colony track, if the new surface supports bacterial growth," he said.

Blowflies and houseflies, both carrion fly species are often exposed to unhygienic matter because they use feces and decaying organic matter to nurture their young, where they could pick up bacteria that could act as pathogens to humans, plants and animals.

The study also indicates that blowflies and houseflies share over 50 per cent of their microbiome, a mixture of host-related microorganisms and those acquired from the environments they inhabit.

Surprisingly, flies collected from stables carried fewer pathogens than those collected from urban environments. The researchers found 15 instances of the human pathogen Helicobacter pylori, a pathogen often causing ulcers in the human gut, largely in the blowfly samples.

The study was recently published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Meanwhile, take a look at a few of the best ways to prevent house fly transmitted diseases.

1. Food Hygiene:
Washing the raw foods like vegetables properly before cooking, keeping the food covered and disposing the rotten foods properly are a few of the best food hygiene to be practiced. There are the best ways to prevent infections transmitted by houseflies.

2. Keeping Surroundings Clean:
Keeping your surroundings clean is a must to prevent breeding and multiplication of houseflies. This in turn helps in preventing the spread of diseases as well.

3. Maintain Proper Waste Management:
Maintaining a proper waste management system is a must in order to prevent the diseases. The bins should be properly covered as when these bins are left open it invites different kinds of flies and makes it a proper breeding ground for the flies.

(With Agency Inputs)