By Helen Briggs BBC News
24 November 2017
Scientists have discovered that flies carry
more diseases than suspected.
The house fly and the blowfly together
harbour more than 600 different bacteria, according to a DNA analysis.
Many are linked with human infections,
including stomach bugs, blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Flies can spread bacteria from place-to-place
on their legs, feet and wings, experiments show. In fact, every step taken by a
fly can transfer live bacteria, researchers said.
''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," Prof Donald
Bryant of Penn State University, a co-researcher on the study, told BBC News.
Outbreaks
DNA sequencing techniques were used to study
the collection of microbes found in and on the bodies of the house fly (Musca domestica) and the blowfly (Chrysomya megacephala).
The house fly, which is ubiquitous around the
world, was found to harbour 351 types of bacteria. The blowfly, which is found
in warmer climates, carried 316. A large number of these bacteria were carried
by both types of fly.
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