health
Flesh-eating screwworm infection confirmed in South Texas, USDA says
With the case confirmed, it is the fly’s first breach of the US-Mexico border.
TL;DR
- A case of New World screwworm has been confirmed in South Texas, the first breach of the US-Mexico border by the fly.
- The screwworm is dangerous to livestock, laying eggs in wounds where larvae feast on living animals.
- The parasite was eradicated from the US in the 1960s but has been making its way north through Central America.
- A case was recently found in Coahuila, Mexico, near the border.
- The USDA is establishing a unified Incident Command Team, creating a quarantine zone, and increasing surveillance and fly trapping.
- The Sterile Insect Technique, involving the release of sterile male flies, was used for previous eradication and is being employed again.
- The US is also constructing a new sterile fly production facility in South Texas and dispersing sterile insects in Mexico.