Hey everyone, Laci Green here for DNews.

大家好，我是 DNews 的 Laci Green。

My dad always warned me that flies were the scum of the earth and that I should never, I repeat, never allow them to land on my food.

我爸爸總是警告我，蒼蠅是地球上的渣渣，因此我絕對不行，我重複，是絕對不允許讓蒼蠅飛到我的食物上。

They’ll vomit! They’ll poop! They’ll spread contagious diseases and you will die!

牠們會在你食物上吐啦、大便啦。牠們會在你食物上留下傳染性疾病，然後你就會死！

I felt a bit like receiving an abstinence lecture, to be honest.

老實說，這感覺起來有點像是在聽戒斷講座。

In a recent survey, Orick asked participants, "if you were at a restaurant, which critter would make you drop your fork? Rodents? Cockroaches? Flies? Ants? Or snakes?"

在一個近期的調查中，Orick 詢問了一些參與者：「如果你去了一間餐廳，什麼樣的蟲蟲會讓你噁心到吃不下飯？老鼠？蟑螂？蒼蠅？螞蟻？蛇？」

Snakes! I’d definitely be outta that joint in a heartbeat.

蛇！有蛇的話我絕對會立刻逃離那間餐館！

61% of people said they would bounce if they saw cockroaches, but scientists are warning that flies are actually twice as germy as cockroaches.

百分之 61 的人說他們看到蟑螂會讓他們沒食慾，但科學家告訴我們，其實蒼蠅比蟑螂還要再多兩倍的細菌。

And they’re specifically referring to those pesky houseflies that can be found anywhere. After all, there are over 90,000 different species of flies.

而且專指那些你在你家到處都可以看到的那些惱人的蒼蠅，畢竟，世界上有超過九萬種不同種類的蒼蠅。

So, what’s the real deal on flies and food? Flies do gross things like eat garbage and poop and rotting animal carcasses.

所以蒼蠅與食物間到底發生什麼事了？蒼蠅會做很噁心的事情，比如吃垃圾跟大便或是帶來腐爛的動物屍體。

All those germs from the gross stuff they think is delicious gets transferred to their legs and small hairs all over their body.

這些細菌都來自於那些蒼蠅們覺得很美味的東西，之後會轉移到牠們的腿上以及牠們全身上下細微的毛髮上。

It only takes a second for them to transfer those germs to your food or to your body.

對牠們來說只要幾秒鐘就可以把那些細菌轉移到你的食物或是身體上。

It’s also true that flies can’t chew, so in order to eat, they spit enzymes on their food to dissolve it and then slurp it up.

而蒼蠅無法咀嚼也是事實，所以為了要吃東西，牠們會吐出酶來分解食物，然後嘖嘖的吃。

And yet another solid truth is that flies can carry cholera, dysentery, and typhoid.

另外一個血淋淋的事實是，蒼蠅可以攜帶霍亂、痢疾以及傷寒症。

But, notice most people don't get those diseases, which brings me to the rational side of things.

但，請注意，大部分的人不會得到這些疾病，這讓我想到理性的另外一面。

Flies that are festering on food can definitely make you sick, so if there’s a bunch of flies feeding on a rotting apple—you probably shouldn’t eat it!

讓你的食物腐爛的蒼蠅絕對可以讓你生病，所以如果有一大堆蒼蠅在腐爛的蘋果上，你大概不應該吃！

But when they land on food for a few seconds, it’s unlikely that it’ll transfer enough bacteria to make you sick.

但當蒼蠅只是在食物上停留幾秒鐘時，其實牠不足以轉移足夠的細菌，因此不會導致你生病。

It’s also a misconception that they poop every time they land. That would be a lot of tiny fly bowel movements.

而且蒼蠅每次飛到你食物上就會大便也是個誤解，那大概需要很多蒼蠅的集體腸運動。

They might spit on your food if they’re intending to eat it, but it’s the bacteria that’s stuck to their body that actually spreads disease and makes people sick.

如果牠們試圖要吃你的食物的話，牠們可能會吐口水或是嘔吐在你的食物上，但其實那些卡在牠們身體上的細菌才是真正散播疾病，讓人們生病的主因。

Long story short: fly vomit is your friend, fly bodies? Not so much.

長話短說：蒼蠅的嘔吐物可能是你的朋友，但蒼蠅的身體？那就不是啦！

Thanks for watching DNews.

感謝你收看 DNews。

Do you get grossed out if flies land on your food? Let me know down below and we’ll catch you on the next episode—hopefully with a little less feces.

當蒼蠅飛到你的食物上時你會覺得很噁心嗎？在下面留言讓我知道，我們下一集見，希望不要再看到太多跟排泄物有關的內容了。