House flies: A common yet underestimated public health threat

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - When people think of public health pests, mosquitoes and ticks often come to mind. But experts say the common house fly deserves just as much attention.

House flies are among the most common insects found in homes and, because of their close proximity to people, they can pose a significant health risk. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), house flies can carry and spread disease-causing illnesses after coming into contact with contaminated materials.

"They have the ability to carry over 100 different disease causing pathogens," said Laura Rosenwald, an entomologist with the National Pest Management Association.

House flies spend much of their life in environments filled with decaying organic matter, making it easy for them to pick up bacteria and other harmful micro-organisms.

"So when we think about housefly lifecycle, a lot of what they do is getting done in rotting organic material or waste or things like that," Rosenwald says. "So they're already living in environments that are not the cleanest to begin with."

Those environments can include a wide variety of places around homes and neighborhoods. And when these areas have lingering rotting materials, the housefly will go for it.

"Anything that is organic is generally what these houseflies are going after it," Rosenwald stated. "So it can be anything ranging from things like compost piles or garbage that you maybe left a little bit too long, garbage cans, dumpsters. It can also be things like pet waste. So they can really kind of take advantage of pretty much any rotting organic material that they can get their little tarsi on."

After landing on contaminated materials, flies can then land on kitchen counters, food or other household surfaces, potentially transferring disease-causing pathogens.

According to the National Pest Management Association, house flies are capable of spreading illnesses including typhoid fever, salmonellosis and norovirus, along with other foodborne diseases.

Experts say prevention starts with good sanitation practices.

"One of the main things that you can do in terms of house fly management is just making sure that you are cleaning up after yourself," Rosewood said. "So not only making sure that you're doing regular taking out of the garbage, but also making sure that you're doing regular cleaning and everything like that."

In addition to keeping homes clean and disposing of garbage regularly, homeowners can reduce the number of flies entering their homes by installing window and door screens and making sure doors and other entry points remain closed whenever possible.

To understand more about flies and mosquitoes, you can visit the National Pest Management Association's website.

For more pest prevention information, you can visit PestWorld.org.