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Persistence of Bacteria in the Developmental Stages of the Housefly

II. Quantitative Study of the Host-Contaminant Relationship in Flies Breeding Under Natural Conditions^*

1. Listed are species of bacteria, the so-called normal flora, which successfully survive metamorphosis and can be recovered from emerging adults breeding in the laboratory in CSMA, and under natural conditions in horse manure.

2. The number of bacteria present in mature maggots, prepupae, pupae and emerging adults breeding in the laboratory in CSMA and under natural conditions in horse manure, privy contents and in garbage is presented in graphic form. Mature maggots support populations of 10⁷ bacteria. During the prepupal stage, the count falls to 10⁵ and 10⁶. At the commencement of pupation counts generally range from 10⁴ to 10⁵, and this range is maintained during metamorphosis. The majority of emerging flies retain 10² or 10³ bacteria, whereas some are sterile and others have 10⁶. Thus two declines consistently appear in the survival pattern: in the prepupa and the newly emerged adult.

3. Single-species infection with Shigella or Salmonella, dual infection and infection with a multiple saprophytic flora exhibit a pattern of bacterial survival which is essentially similar in all cases. On the basis of the evidence presented in this and the preceding study, it is considered doubtful that the normal flora are better suited than the pathogens for survival in the gut of the developing fly.

^* This study was supported by a grant from the University of Illinois Research Board and, in part, by a contract with the Illinois State Department of Public Health. The author is grateful to Dr. Howard J. Shaughnessy, Deputy Director of the Illinois State Department of Public Health, for making funds available for the field studies herein reported.

The author is happy to acknowledge the contribution of Miss Esther Cooksey of Chicago in the preparation of the charts.