House Fly

This common house fly is a pest found around the world.

Life Cycle: All flies undergo metamorphosis with egg, larval, pupal and adult stages:

• Eggs: they are 1mm long and glistening white in colour and are laid on organic material like fermenting vegetation, garbage and on soil. Adult female may lay around 250-500 eggs. Depending on the temperature and other factors eggs hatch in 8hrs to 3 days.
• Larva: The larva (also called Maggot) is white, legless and conical in shape at the head end. They burrow into the breeding medium and complete the three Instars (stages of development) in a period of 3 days to weeks depending on the food source and climatic factors. Once the growth in complete they pupate in drier and cooler places.
• Pupa: The pupae are observed generally at a depth of 3-30cm and are about 8m long. They are barrel shaped and as they turn from pale yellow to dark reddish brown. Pupal period lasts between 3 to 28 days before emerging as adults
• Adults: They are 6-7mm long. They have red eyes and have spongy mouth parts. Female are larger than male. Underside of the male is yellow in colour. Thorax area has four stripes. They have gustatory or tasting organs in the last segment of the legs. Adults are strong fliers and can live for a month.

 Spread of Diseases by houseflies

• Flies may go directly from garbage, drains, animal excretion to human food, transmitting disease
• Some flies bite and can transmit diseases through their bite as well causing irritation

 Disease Causing Organisms Carried by Flies

• Klebsiella – causative agents of many respiratory and urinary tract infections.
• Campylobacter – causative agents for many acute gastroenteritis type complaints.
• Streptococci – found in skin and gut infections.
• Chlamydia – parasites that cause a variety of complaints