Have You Wondered If House Flies Can Transmit Covid 19 (SARS-CoV-2)?

28th August 2021

Well it was worth asking the question.

The answer so far from a piece of research is -

Conclusion
In the present study, we determined that house flies could readily acquire and harbor SARS-CoV-2 from virus-spiked medium or virus-spiked milk. However, only viral RNA but no infectious virus was recovered from any environmental samples. These data suggest that flies most likely do not play a significant role in transmitting SARS-CoV-2 to humans and susceptible animals. However, the house fly's ability to harbor SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA for extended periods might offer a potential for its use as a xenosurveillance vector for monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in communities, a technique which more traditionally has been used to survey blood-borne human pathogens by using hematophagous vectors.

The research paper - Mechanical transmission of SARS-CoV-2 by house flies is available in full HERE

Having read the paper you may think that's is then. But it will perhaps make you think hard about cleaning surfaces more often, washing hands etc due to all the other nasty things house flies can carry.