Can fruitflies, in sufficient quantities, cause disease etc?

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I seemingly have hives upon hives of them right now in my room (they don't all fly at the same time but I have a jar with a banana at the bottom and a cone so they won't just fly back, and I get what looks like a bee hive every twelve hours).

So far, the most annoying thing is that they keep hovering in front of screens I'm looking at, distracting me to no end...

It sounds like you may need to find the source of the fruit flies and dispose of it.

Is there usually a single source?

They are drawn to fruit. In your case it is presumably that banana. They won't spread disease to you so they are an annoyance rather than a danger. If you want to get rid of them you have to get rid of that banana.

Janissy, I'm using that banana to lure them inside a jar so I could later release them outside of my house, although admittedly the population doesn't seem to be decreasing. So, you think this is counter-productive? It's an implementation of a suggestion I read online.

I've gotten them in my room from cans of flavored tea that have a small amount left or cups of orange juice I leave out too long or if I happen to leave half an orange sitting there or something which I've done, are you sure you don't have anything like that laying around? otherwise if the banana is rotting at all it could be attracting more.

But yeah anything rotting is likely to attract more, it almost seems they come from rotting fruit. But yeah I don't think they are dangerous at all, I think maybe rotting fruit is their food source.

I looked it up online so now I understand what you are doing. The online sources I found didn't say how long to wait before taking the bottle outside. Maybe you should take it outside as soon as you see any in there. They might be reproducing and getting out. I know the online sources say they can't, but it seems like they are.

They can contribute sickness if you leave rotten food around. Make sure there is no food left out, dirty garbage, uncovered garbage, sugary drink are closed, and it's clean in your area. Fruit flies while they like fruit, they will eat anything, and hang around a warm and/or dirty place. They can survive off of pure wet nasty molding garbage and multiply at an alarming rate. What works best for me at eliminating them is simply good old fashioned bug spray directly on the lot wherever they may be. One method that can work for you besides bug spray is getting a small bottle of sugary drink.. one of them 16 oz bottles or a 750ml of cheap sugary wine works as well... Drill a whole in the cap, not a big one. Leave about half of the drink inside the bottle, actually a bit less, cover the cap with your thumb and shake it up... So all the sides are sticky. Now give it a day and wait, and when you come back there should be a lot in there, some dead and some alive. Grab the bottle and cover the cap again then shake. That should kill them. They will always come back though if you leave something for them around so this method should be very temporary.

I have something that might help you out. Fill a glass halfway with Vinegar and then use two drops of Dish Detergent. The thing is with this technique, sometimes it works like a miracle and sometimes it doesn't. For example the first time i tried this i killed 15 fruit flies in one day. Then i refreshed the glass and now 3 days later i haven't catched a single one even though there are still a few around.

I think it has something to do with Dish Detergent being slippery, and the flies cannot get out anymore but how would it be slippery if it sinks to the bottom? Anyhow i now have the glass here around me every day and it is sure to put a dent in the fruit fly population.

It's going to look tacky, but get you some of those little flypaper strips. Hang them up in the areas where you see them. Change them every day. Also look for where they come from and either get rid of what is drawing them or if they are coming in from outside, block their entrance.

Something that keeps them away from open windows is to get a gallon size clear ziplock baggie and fill it about half full with water. Put a penny in the water and seal the bag. Tie a piece of string around the top part and hang it in the window. I don't know why it works but it does. The Dairy Queen has one hanging in front of the takeout window and that is open and s**t all day long all summer and they never have flies.

Get rid of any fruit that's there (throw out rotten fruit and put the good fruit in the fridge) Also make sure it's not warm and dark there.
After a while they should clear out, and you can use a butterfly net or jar or smth to catch them and put them outside.
Fruitflies are don't carry any pathogens, they're just annoying.

Another way I seem to have noticed them coming into the house is on newly bought fruit that I don't wash right away. I think there can be eggs on even fresh fruit (apples and such) and if you wash them as soon as you bring them home, no fruit flies start being "born." But whenever I've just left fruit unwashed and out in the kitchen, I see fruit flies starting even before the fruit is anywhere near going bad.

The worst thing about them multiplying is they leave tiny little poops on every surface they land on. After I had an infestation of fruit flies I had to wash all these little brown dots off the door frame of the kitchen, cupboard doors, and even a fake silk flower they liked to sit on. My paper lampshade still has tiny poops all over it.

Now I wash apples etc as soon as I bring them home. Bit more problematic with fresh bought bananas though, as I think those are big-time culprits for having the little eggs on their stalk or skins.