How Do Fruit Flies Affect Humans?

The fact is that fruit flies carry a variety of bacteria including E. coli and listeria that can cause food poisoning. In some cases, the infections can be so severe that people end up in the hospital. While fruit flies don’t usually cause serious illness, you should avoid them as much as possible. Maggots, which are left behind after a fruit fly bites you, can also lead to food poisoning and infection. Hence, it is advisable to remove any infected fruit from your meals.

Fruit flies are attracted to moist and rotting food. They can become a nuisance in your home very quickly. As they have hairy bodies, they are able to collect harmful bacteria from surfaces and spread them throughout your house. This means you have to clean up any rotting food as soon as possible to prevent them from infesting your home. You should also clean up any spilled fruit juice.

Researchers have found that fruit flies contain about 75 per cent of the genes in humans. They are small enough to be seen without a microscope and are cheap to grow in a lab. Furthermore, they can easily be studied over several generations. As a result, the genome of the fruit fly has been fully mapped. Researchers have also used the fly as a genetic model for several human diseases.

The study also found that the hormone insulin regulates growth, metabolism and development. Humans develop diabetes when their insulin-producing cells fail to produce enough insulin or when other cells grow resistant to insulin. According to the researchers, this is the same mechanism that causes a diabetes-like condition in fruit flies.