Abstract
This chapter reviews published and recent results on the detection of microorganisms on the surface or in the intestine of a variety of different fly species that may often occur in huge numbers in and around humans at rural and at urban sites. It is surely alarming when severe agents of diseases such as enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli, enteropathogenic E. coli, enterotoxic E. coli, enteroaggregative E. coli, Klebsiella, Campylobacter, Providencia, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus viridans, and Candida albicans and Mucor and Aspergillus spp. are found on the bodies of flies or within their feces, which may contaminate food or wounds of humans and/or animals. The arising dangers have to be intensively considered and evaluated. Furthermore, fly control measures have to be strengthened and research to find long-lasting, nonpoisonous insecticides has to be increased. Otherwise flies will take the leadership as vectors of several emerging diseases, which then will have an enormous killing or at least disease-causing potential in animal production and in current megatowns and in those of the future.
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Acknowledgments
We gratefully acknowledge support of the studies that are the basis of this chapter by Novartis, Basel, and by the joint governmental project (the Netherlands/North Rhine-Westphalia) Safeguard, subproject Campylobacter. Furthermore, we are grateful to I. Schaefers and S. Walter, who typed the text and arranged the photographic plates, respectively.
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Gestmann, F. et al. (2012). Flies as Vectors of Microorganisms Potentially Inducing Severe Diseases in Humans and Animals. In: Mehlhorn, H. (eds) Arthropods as Vectors of Emerging Diseases. Parasitology Research Monographs, vol 3. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28842-5_9
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