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House Fly (Musca domestica)
One of the most familiar and widely distributed of all insects,
the housefly, besides being a nuisance, is a prime carrier
of disease. Its entire body swarms with millions of bacteria
which are often transmitted to the food we eat. Typhus,
dysentery, tuberculosis, and poliomyelitis are only a few
of the illnesses for which it is a vector. Flies multiply
at an enormous rate. It takes roughly two weeks from the
time a female is hatched until she is able to lay eggs
of her own. Favourite breeding sites are dung heaps,exposed
human faeces, all sorts of droppings, rotting garbage,
and carrion. In more developed countries, modern sewage
systems, refuse removal, and general cleanliness have had
a marked effect in controlling the insect's numbers.
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