HOME HEALTH GUIDE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 307, 28 December 1944, Page 3

HOME HEALTH GUIDE

THE PLY MENACE STRESSED (By the Department of Health) How about doing something about those flies this summer? We all know they are an ugly menace to health, and we admit that they should be exterminated, but too many of us just let it go at that. The war against flies is not waged with sufficient determination. If it were the toll of our summer diseases would be cut down considerably. Typhoid fever, dysentery, worms, summer sickness, tuberculosis—a fly may slip one of these diseases your way any time. Perhaps if one could see an enlarged picture of the staggering collection of filth and germs that a single fly harbours, it would startle one into doing something about it. This is a cunning little habit of the fly that many people probably have not heard about: When a fly alights on any food, it first vomits moisture on it to soften it before eating, and while it feeds it usually excretes. That moisture is germladen. The best way to tackle the fly is to prevent it from breeding. Keep your rubbish in properly covered tins, don't have any lying around. Keep compost heaps protected (they are favoured breeding spots). See that all foodstuffs are completely protected. Use recognised sprays liberally and othc fly poisons, such as milk or water (a pint) with an ounce of formalin added, placed in shallow receptacles. Here's another way: Mix five parts of castor oil with eight parts of resin. Melt and smear on glazed paper or wires, and leave where they will do the most good. The wires can be burned clear and used again.