Epidemiological potential of excretion and regurgitation by Musca domestica (Diptera: Muscidae) in the dissemination of Escherichia coli O157: H7 to food.

We previously reported that enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157: H7 (EHEC) proliferates in the mouthparts of the house fly Musca domestica vicina Macquart and are excreted for at least 3 d after ingestion. However, the role of the crop and excretory behavior of the house fly in contamination of human food with EHEC is not known. In the current experiments, EHEC persisted in the crop of house flies for at least 4 d. The number of EHEC in an excreted droplet was approximately 10(4) 1 h after bacterial feeding, > 1.8 x 10(5) 3 h after feeding, and then drastically decreased after 24 h. Excretion is one of the major mechanisms for decreasing number of EHEC in the crop and gut of the house fly. The frequency of excretion by females with developing eggs in their ovary was clearly higher (6.5 min per drop) than for males or females with mature eggs. Minute eosin-sign around a container filled with eosin-supplemented trypticase soy broth might be derived from frequent contact by house fly contaminated mouthparts. These results show that frequent excretion potentially enhances the dissemination of EHEC to foods, particularly during the first 24 h after ingestion of the bacteria.