Flies Carry More Dangerous Bacteria Than Previously Thought, Warn Scientists

How many of us have just shooed away a fly that landed on our sandwich, or slice of pizza, then proceeded to eat it? I'm guilty, but I guess scientists say that's not such a good idea.

Researchers at Penn State Eberly College of Science in the United States found that common houseflies carry salmonella, e-coli and even bacteria which lead to stomach ulcers and deadly sepsis.

The researchers say flies may have been overlooked by public health officials as a source of disease outbreaks.

Flies in urban areas were found to carry more bacteria than the countryside leading scientists to suggest avoiding city parks for a picnic, and eating food into more rural locations.

''People had some notion that there were pathogens that were carried by flies but had no idea of the extent to which this is true and the extent to which they are transferred,” said Dr Donald Bryant, Professor of Biotechnology at Penn State University.

www.telegraph.co.uk...

YIKES!

Yuk.. In some very populous countries they share most of their meals with the swarms of flies that thrive in such climes..
What about the microscopic critters that are all around us or even live of us they probably give us some of our immunity to getting ill with breathing ?

www.bbc.com...

You almost certainly have animals living on your face. You can't see them, but they're there. They are microscopic mites, eight-legged creatures rather like spiders. Almost every human being has them. They spend their entire lives on our faces, where they eat, mate and finally die. Before you start buying extra-strong facewash, you should know that these microscopic lodgers probably aren't a serious problem.

a reply to: shawmanfromny

How many of us have just shooed away a fly that landed on our sandwich, or slice of pizza, then proceeded to eat it?

I've never intentionally eaten a fly.

Yeah...living on a farm, I have far worse comin off livestock...

I suspect city dwellers are far more susceptible since they live in antibacterial hell...

Kinda like the Native Americans when the white folks showed up...You folks should wrestle with nature more often.

I'm shocked that this is news to be honest, as a kid my grandfather would religiously cover all food that wasn't being eaten, he'd say "You'll get sick if flies land on your food" but he also said "no one knows where they come from"
50% success rate.

Eww! man....
I guess it time to buy a full face motorcycle helmet.

a reply to: shawmanfromny

Your title made me think of this fun fact about Islam

a reply to: shawmanfromny

I live near farms and here is a sure way to keep flies away. Inside, get a cat, a good cat will make sure you never see a housefly. Outside, wipe outdoor furniture with pinesol. Get a ziplock bag and fill with water and put a penny in it. Zip it up and hang it near doors, porches etc. It sounds crazy but it works.

a reply to: Phage
Got me good!

Also, you have e coli and salmonella etc...in you, right now.

It's about keeping the right ratios of good to less good bacteria that maintains health.

Stop using anti bacterial products everyday...flies have been around longer than us...it's our products that kill all bacteria, good a nd bad that's creating more and more virulent strains.

Then we live sterile lives and suffer the obvious.

a reply to: shawmanfromny

1 - Agreed.
2 - In light of this: probably best to eat all of your food in one bite.
3 - Maybe get a Venus Fly-trap plant, and then be disgusted as it wilts and dies before ever catching anything.
4 - Wonder why the strong acid in our tummies can't kill a little bacteria from a fly's foot?
5 - But they do have sticky feet.
6 - Maybe best to get about 20 cats, just to be sure they protect you from the flies.
7 - ...And marker molecules!

originally posted by: shawmanfromny
How many of us have just shooed away a fly that landed on our sandwich, or slice of pizza, then proceeded to eat it? I'm guilty, but I guess scientists say that's not such a good idea.

Researchers at Penn State Eberly College of Science in the United States found that common houseflies carry salmonella, e-coli and even bacteria which lead to stomach ulcers and deadly sepsis.

The researchers say flies may have been overlooked by public health officials as a source of disease outbreaks.

Flies in urban areas were found to carry more bacteria than the countryside leading scientists to suggest avoiding city parks for a picnic, and eating food into more rural locations.

''People had some notion that there were pathogens that were carried by flies but had no idea of the extent to which this is true and the extent to which they are transferred,” said Dr Donald Bryant, Professor of Biotechnology at Penn State University.

www.telegraph.co.uk...

YIKES!

1st World problems.... We haven't had a good insect scare in a while.

Lets go tell Africa and Asia not to eat the food.

I suspect those with beards and moustaches have even more of these little critters crawling around.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
a reply to: shawmanfromny

I live near farms and here is a sure way to keep flies away. Inside, get a cat, a good cat will make sure you never see a housefly. Outside, wipe outdoor furniture with pinesol. Get a ziplock bag and fill with water and put a penny in it. Zip it up and hang it near doors, porches etc. It sounds crazy but it works.

Cat, yup agreed, my cat loves chasing and eating flies.
Pinesol, not sure what that is but if it smells like pine, I could see how that could be a repellant.
Now, water in a ziplock bag with a penny, that one baffles me. How does this work?

originally posted by: BlueJacket
Yeah...living on a farm, I have far worse comin off livestock...

I suspect city dwellers are far more susceptible since they live in antibacterial hell...

Kinda like the Native Americans when the white folks showed up...You folks should wrestle with nature more often.

I lived out close to the country fields. Horse files are the worst. Every Saturday morning I'd be woken up by those twin engine black flies with the white stripes. They would buzz around my room louder than a B-52's on takeoff.

a reply to: CthulhuMythos

The penny in water in the bag works by tricking the flies into thinking it is another bug or spiderweb. It works for some people and not for others. It totally works for us. We have a back porch and and had zero flies come in through that door this summer. I took the bag down and there were flies all around. If you have certain wasps a brown puffed up paper bag works the same way, they think a nest is there already so they stay away. The penny must reflect some light and look like bad news to flies, so they go somewhere else.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
a reply to: CthulhuMythos

The penny in water in the bag works by tricking the flies into thinking it is another bug or spiderweb. It works for some people and not for others. It totally works for us. We have a back porch and and had zero flies come in through that door this summer. I took the bag down and there were flies all around. If you have certain wasps a brown puffed up paper bag works the same way, they think a nest is there already so they stay away. The penny must reflect some light and look like bad news to flies, so they go somewhere else.

I think the penny in water produces copper oxide, which is a pesticide used in agriculture. It does not kill that many, but bugs do not like it so they avoid plants that are sprayed with it.

(use an old penny, the new are alloys with hardly any copper)

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: shawmanfromny

How many of us have just shooed away a fly that landed on our sandwich, or slice of pizza, then proceeded to eat it?

I've never intentionally eaten a fly.

careful, your lack of reading comprehension is showing...

originally posted by: imitator
Eww! man....
I guess it time to buy a full face motorcycle helmet.

LOL !

I ate a dragonfly one time going down the highway on my bike.

Had no choice, the sucker splattered right in the middle of my mouth, I was surrounded by traffic doing 110 km so I couldn't pull over. Had to open my mouth and chomp the sucker down and keep on riding. Nice big fat crunchy dragonfly.