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Originally posted by Tincup:
Please feel free to share with your doctor that the following organisms and diseases are spread by flies. (This is only a partial list.)

Typhoid fever, dysentery, cholera, poliomyelitis, yaws, anthrax, salmonella, tularemia, leprosy (a spirochetal disease), tuberculosis, tularemia, myiasis, Bartonella, leishmaniasis... AND...

Lyme, unnamed "novel" spirochetes, gastroenteritis, onchocerciasis, conjunctivitis, Heartland Virus, and Wohlfahrtiimonas chitiniclastica.

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"AND... Lyme" Phew, I thought you weren't going to mention it!


Yes, contrary to what is insisted upon by the CDC and IDSA, Lyme can be spread by biting flies.

Here is a case cited in the NEJM:

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199006143222415#t=article


Lyme Disease Transmitted by a Biting Fly
N Engl J Med 1990; 322:1752June 14, 1990DOI: 10.1056/NEJM199006143222415


Lyme disease, first described by Steere et al. in 1977,1 was identified as a disease transmitted by the bite of ixodes ticks.

2 Burgdorfer, Barbour, and colleagues then isolated the infectious agent, a spirochete now known as Borrelia burgdorferi.

3 The spirochete has been shown to be transmitted by a variety of ixodes ticks, including Ixodes dammini, I. ricinus, I. pacificus, and I. persulcatus.

4 B. burgdorferi has been identified in biting flies, and there has been anecdotal mention of possible transmission of B. burgdorferi by such flies.

5, 6 This report describes a case of Lyme disease transmitted by a fly bite.

On July 10, 1989, while jogging with no shirt on, a 42-year-old man from Old Lyme, Connecticut, an area in which Lyme disease is endemic, was bothered by a large fly that he believed to be either a deerfly or a horsefly.

After swatting at it unsuccessfully, he was bitten by the fly several times on the right side of the chest.

The bites were acutely painful. The area around the bites was swollen for one to two days; the swelling then subsided. The patient was not aware of any tick bites in the previous three months.

On July 23, he presented with classic erythema migrans surrounding the bite area, headache, chills, fever, myalgias, arthralgias, and fatigue.

The patient had a temperature of 37.2°C and a pulse of 76 per minute. Examination disclosed a 16-cm by 11-cm rash (erythema migrans) on the right side of the chest, with several small papular areas in its center consistent with fly bites.

No regional adenopathy was present, and no cardiac, joint, or neurologic abnormalities were found.

A diagnosis of Lyme disease was made, and treatment was initiated with amoxicillin (500 mg three times a day) and probenecid (500 mg three times a day) for 10 days.

On the first night after treatment the patient had a Jarisch—Herxheimer reaction, with a fever and worsening of his headache and myalgias.

At his 10- and 30-day follow-up visits he was asymptomatic, and has remained well since.

Antibody titers to B. burgdorferi were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in the acute phase and at the 10- and 30-day follow-up visits.

These analyses confirmed a more than fourfold rise in antibodies to B. burgdorferi (Table 1TABLE 1
Antibody Response to B. burgdorferi in the Patient and According to Diagnostic Criteria.
). Results of other laboratory tests were within normal limits.

This patient was bitten by a biting fly (an act he both saw and felt) and subsequently presented with Lyme disease, with erythema migrans at the site of the bite. Serologic testing confirmed a more than fourfold rise in antibodies to B. burgdorferi.

In contrast to the painless bite of I. dammini, the bite of flies is painful and not likely to be overlooked by the patient as a means of transmission of Lyme disease.

I conclude that although in most cases Lyme disease is transmitted by the bite of ixodes ticks, it may rarely be transmitted by biting flies.

Steven W. Luger, M.D.
8 Davis Rd., Old Lyme, CT 06333


6 References

1 Steere achéal, Malawista SE, Snydman DR, et al. . Lyme arthritis: an epidemic of oligoarticular arthritis in children and adults in three Connecticut communities . Arthritis Rheum 1977; 20:7–17.
CrossRef | Web of Science | Medline

2 Steere achéal, Malawista SE. . Cases of Lyme disease in the United States: locations correlated with distribution of Ixodes dammini . Ann Intern Med 1979; 91:730–3.
CrossRef | Web of Science | Medline

3 Burgdorfer W, Barbour AG, Hayes SF, Benach JL, Grunwaldt E, Davis JP. . Lyme disease — a tick-borne spirochetosis? Science 1982; 216:1317–9.
CrossRef | Web of Science | Medline

4 Steere achéal. . Lyme disease . N Engl J Med 1989; 321:586–96.
Full Text | Web of Science | Medline

5 Magnarelli LA, Anderson JF, Barbour AG. . The etiologic agent of Lyme disease in deer flies, horse flies, and mosquitoes . J Infect Dis 1986; 154:355–8.
CrossRef | Web of Science | Medline

6 Magnarelli LA, Anderson JF. . Ticks and biting insects infected with the etiologic agent of Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi . J Clin Microbiol 1988; 26:1482–6.
Web of Science | Medline

quote:

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Originally posted by Tincup:
A single fly may carry up to 6,500,000 bacteria. Bacteria may be carried in the digestive system for as long as four weeks, and the bacteria can be transmitted to succeeding generations.

While feeding on garbage, or other attractive materials, the fly covers itself with bacteria.

The fly must transform its food into a liquid, and does this by regurgitating some of the liquids already swallowed, such as sewage and bacteria laden saliva onto the food.

The liquified food is then sucked up, but part of the regurgitated liquid is left behind. The fly leaves behind part of its vomit, germs from its legs, and its feces.

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