This second volume of Flies and Disease spans the recorded history of synanthropic flies, from earliest Sumerian writings to contemporary research on their biology and involvement in the transmission of disease agents. Geographically, its coverage is worldwide. Biologically, it provides an in-depth view of the community in the fly and the fly in the community. The exhaustive evaluation of fly involvement in more than sixty human and animal diseases is drawn against a background that gives careful balance to other modes of dissemination.
The opening chapter is a survey of attitudes toward flies through recorded history. The second chapter deals with the life history, breeding, distribution, dispersal, and overwintering habits of common synanthropic flies. Chapter 3 looks at the fly as a host and examines its micro-ecology from the viewpoint of the microbe intent on colonizing the fly. The final two chapters examine the evidence for the specific involvement of flies in human and animal diseases.
The result is the most complete portrait ever drawn of these ancient pests and a rational basis for new programs of research. This book should prove invaluable to the public health worker, epidemiologist, medical entomologist, microbiologist, and parasitologist. Together with Volume I, it is a monumental work on the complex subject of flics and disease and will remain the definitive work for years to come.
Bernard Greenberg is Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Illinois, Chicago Circle.

Originally published in 1973.

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