When tracking the diseases carried by blood-sucking flies, Epidemiology ignored common, non-biting flies, but in vain. When these insects are foraging outside, they will actively absorb feces, garbage and waste stored in the crops before entering the esophagus. In the house, flies ruminate most of these undigested foods, spreading the infection.
University of Massachusetts Amherst (USA) has studied so-called flies that are in the same human or do not bite humans. It turns out that like blood-sucking flies, they can become carriers of various diseases. Bite flies spread pathogens between humans and animals through the blood, but symbiotic fly vomit is much more risky to human health. The results of the study were published in the journal Insect.
For a long time, epidemiologists have remained focused on blood-sucking flies, but scientists have ignored common flies, which can sometimes be found in almost any family. However, these insects can also be very dangerous.
For example, House fly often flies outside and feeds on animal carcasses, feces, rotten garbage or sewage. All of this is stored in the goiter of the fly for a while before entering the digestive tract. Very few digestive enzyme or antimicrobial peptide can neutralize many pathogens.
Therefore, the crops of flies become storage places for potential infections. Usually, excess water will accumulate there and the insects will get rid of it with the help of hiccup . Before biting off a piece of food in the house, the fly may spit out some water to make room for the crops and have some street lunch with it. Furthermore, in insect goiters, bacteria develop resistance to antibacterial drugs, which will make further treatment of the disease difficult.
Scientists still don't know how reliable the immune systems of various human flies are. Will it stimulate the growth of harmful pathogens in the insect's intestines, or are these insects just carriers of the disease? Who is the more effective carrier, male or female? How does the volume of goiter depend on the species? All of these questions remain unanswered, so the authors of the work urged their colleagues to focus more on these seemingly harmless animals.
