On the role of insects, arachnids and myriapods, as carriers in the spread of bacterial and parasitic diseases of man and animals. A critical and historical study / by George H. F. Nuttall.
- George Nuttall
- Date:
- 1900
Licence: In copyright
Credit: On the role of insects, arachnids and myriapods, as carriers in the spread of bacterial and parasitic diseases of man and animals. A critical and historical study / by George H. F. Nuttall. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
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![Finally, in reading through the literature, I came across accounts of a series of cases where it is simply stated that malignant pustule developed in consequence of the bite of a fly. Schwab13 (1832) tells of a woman who died of anthrax 4 days after be- ing bitten by a fly. Weiss36 (1869) describes two cases where the patients positively said they had been bitten by flies on the places where the pus- tules developed. Bourguet52 (1882) has apparently made it a rule to inquire from his patients if they had been bitten by insects. He had altogether seen 3 to 4 cases of malignant pustule following fly-bites. He concludes from his experience that “ infection through the bites of flies is one of the modes of transmission of the disease, but that it is not the ordinary mode.” Budd32 33 (1862-3) cites two cases of infection attributed to fly-bites, on the strength of which he certainly generalizes too freely. Wuttge16 (1828) tells of a shepherdess who died of anthrax two days after she was supposed to have been bitten on the eyelid by a fly. Of 19 cases of anthrax occurring in Prussia in 1872-1873 (Virchow-Hirsch Jahres- bericht, Vol. II, 1874, p. 692), one was attributed to a fly acting as carrier of the infection. Oemler49 (1876) records eight cases, however, where the insect accused had not been seen and other modes of infection were not excluded. Griffin53 (1884) reports the case of a young man who was bitten on the cheek by a large fly whilst eating his dinner in a restaurant. “ The fly, which was a common green bottle-fly, was killed on his cheek by a friend who was dining with him. . . . The fly had bitten sufficiently to draw blood, and it was from this point as a focus that the malignant pustule began its career.” It was found on inquiry that the employees of the restaurant had been in the habit of throwing waste scraps of meat and other refuse into the back yard, and this having been stopped by order of the Board of Health it was noticed for several days afterwards that flies swarmed about the restaurant, “ annoying all by their savage- ness.” Griffln diagnosed the case as one of anthrax on the strength of the clinical symptoms alone, no microscopical examination nor inocula- tions on animals being made. Griffin refers to Gross (see above) as stating that the same fly had previously been observed to convey anthrax.1 It could not have been a “ common green bottle-fly,” as Griffin states, as this fly (Lucilia Gcesar [L.]) is incapable of piercing the skin. Macleay (quoted below) also stated that this fly had been accused of transmitting anthrax in New Caledonia together with M. domestica (!) It is impossible to_say what green blood-sucking fly was taken for a “green bottle,” but the cases in which the house-fly is said to have bitten are attributable to some species of Stomoxys. In a letter, dated October 18, 1898, Dr. L. O. Howard, entomologist to the U. S. Department of Agriculture, informs me of the case (not published) of a young lady who died 5 days after being bitten on the lip by a fly. “ Some of the blood and pus were examined and showed rod bacilli, which were decided to be those of anthrax.” In a number of cases of anthrax, attributed to the bites of flies, the skin was either certainly or probably already infected. Men engaged in skinning anthracic animals particularly fear the bites of flies. It is impossible to 1 Dr. J. H. Wright had the kindness to make an abstract of Griffin’s publication for me.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24764127_0016.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
