Thursday, September 13, 2007
In the movie The Fly there’s a scene in which Jeff Goldblum’s character, half-human, half-housefly, barfs on a donut in order to dissolve it and then digest it. While the movie is science-fiction, this scene isn’t too far from science fact.
Flies have a spike located in their mouth which they stick into their food. They then use the spike to vomit on the food, dissolving it, and ultimately ingest it through their toothless mouths. There’s a bigger issue here, though—they’re doing this every time they land on your plate. Even worse, they’re leaving more than just puke on your food.
“Flies feed on all types of garbage and animal waste, and those bacteria can stick to their legs and hair,” says Douglas County Extension Agent Susan Krumm.
In addition to the germs of the turds they land on, flies can also carry strep and staph infections and, in rare cases, typhoid fever.
Krumm advises people to make sure they have screens on their doors, and to keep their food covered when they aren’t eating. In the case of a picnic, she says that spraying the area with bug spray a few hours in advance is a good idea.
If a fly does crawl all over your meal, however, you don’t necessarily have to throw it away.
“It’s probably not smart to eat it,” says Krumm, “but the health risks are minimal. We have strong immune systems.”
So now that you know your body can handle a fly food invasion, do you think your stomach can?
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