author(s)
Bhavna Wadaskar, Rahul Kolhe, Vikas Waskar, Mrunalini Pawade and Krishnendu Kundu

abstract
Present study was designed to explore the types of flies prevalent at food animal farms and their role in harboring the bacterial species namely Escherichia coli and Salmonella. Flies were trapped using indigenous traps from the cattle, sheep, goat, poultry farms and veterinary clinical complex. A total of 2187 flies were collected from the 36 pools during the months of April and May, 2019. All the collected flies were identified as house flies (Musca domestica) except one were identified as a blow fly (Calliphora erythrocephala). Processing of representative fly pool samples for isolation and identification of bacterial pathogens revealed 100% prevalence of E. coli in all the flies caught, whereas Salmonella was isolated from only 21 pools with a prevalence rate of 58.33%. It is thus concluded that flies prevalent at food animal farms are dominated by Musca domestica species and their role in harboring and transmission of E. coli and Salmonella species cannot be ruled out.