In terms of the list of most dangerous animals it’s true, flies could be considered as pretty harmless. Very few flies actually bite and even when they do, it’s no more than a minor nuisance. They are not venomous and will rarely cause an allergic reaction. 

But are you aware of what they carry with them??

The common housefly (Musca domestica – for anyone interested in their latin name) is not particular about its surroundings. They spend their time in rubbish, rotting food and manure. Then they come and land all over your house surfaces, on your skin and of course on your food. With them they carry more than 200 known pathogens and parasites. These diseases known to be spread by flies include typhoid, cholera and dysentery, to name but a few.

Then because they can only digest a liquid diet, in order to eat it, they vomit on your food. Eeuww! 

There are a number of things you can do to prevent this nasty cycle of fly-introduced bacteria being present in or around your house or business premises.

•  - Make sure that all your kitchen waste is properly contained and disposed of daily. This minimises their access to picking up these pathogens.

•  - Cover all food when outside the refrigerator. This will limit their food supply at the same time as protecting it from their germs. With lack of food supply, flies can not breed as successfully.

•  - Regularly clean up pet waste from outside your property. This is a great breeding ground for flies and a source of the dangerous pathogens.

•  - Install fly screens to all your doors and windows to let in the air, but keep out the pests.

• - Clean and sanitise kitchens and bathrooms regularly to prevent any water becoming stagnant and attractive.

•  - Install a fly zapper (an Electric Fly Killer) unit. The best ones not only zap with the UV bulb, but also have an internal sticky glue board to trap more flies faster and without any small pieces of fly getting expelled from the machine all over your house at the moment of ‘zapping’ (Eeuww again!)

For really problem infestations it is best to consult with a qualified Pest Control company, who can not only eradicate the infestation, but will advise you on how you prevent it reoccurring.

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