I am writing this article as a way of promoting our fly killer machines. It provides information on diseases that can be caused by house flies.

Houseflies frequent dung heaps and other fecal sources. They also visit decaying matter including dead animals. When landing on food that is prepared for human consumption, contaminated material is often transferred to the food.

There are a wide range of diseases that can be transmitted by flies. Here are some of them:

Typhoid Fever (Salmonella typhi)

Symptoms: High temperature (up to 104 deg F or 40 deg C), loss of appetite, headache, stomach pain and usually some weakness. Sometimes a pink skin rash appears.

Treatment: A doctor will usually prescribe an antibiotic and the symptoms will cease in a few days. If no treatment is given, the subject may become seriously ill and even die from secondary problems (up to 20% typhoid fever sufferers die without treatment).

Cholera (cause by Vibria cholerae, a bacterium)

Symptoms: unexpected episodes of watery diarrhoea that contains flecks of white mucous material, stomach pains, dry or sticky mouth, sunken eyes, concentrated coloured urine, in a child a markedly sunken fontanelles (the soft spot at the top of the head), dry skin, nausea and vomiting (usually).

Treatment: Cases can vary from mild to serious. If untreated, serious cases can lead to imminent death. Drink plenty of fresh water, mixed with small quantities of salt and sugar. This will restore the body's fluid. Treatment must be given immediately.

Escherichia coli

Symptoms: This depends on the strain of Escherichia coli. Most strains are harmless and result in no detectable symptoms. Other strains, such as O157:H7 can sometimes cause bloody diarrhea. In a very small number of cases Escherichia coli O157:H7 can lead to hemolytic uremic syndrome that can lead to kidney failure in young children. For most of us, and for most of the time, Escherichia coli causes no problems.

Treatment: No treatment is necessary, unless uremic syndrome occurs, in which case a blood transfusion and kidney dialysis may be required.

Shigellosis (cause by Shigella, a bacterium)

Symptoms: Diarrhoea (often bloody), fever, and stomach pains. Most cases are mild and may not even be noticed. In a small number of cases, the very young and very old may be vulnerable to high temperature fever, possibly (and rarely) leading to a seizure in a toddler.

These are just some of the illnesses that can be spread by houseflies. Be on your guard. To be safe you may wish to install a fly killer machine (details follow).