Not to worry anyone, but cannibalistic screwworms have entered the United States

The USDA announced Wednesday evening that a case of New World screwworm has been confirmed in South Texas. This marks the first detected breach of the US-Mexico border by the United States Flesh-eating flieswhich it has They were making their way across Central America over the past few years.

in Posted on social media Wednesday afternoonThe USDA revealed that a sample from Texas was sent to the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa, for confirmatory testing for screwworm infection. Agriculture Secretary Brock Rollins later posted this The test confirmed the infectionwhich was found in a three-week-old calf in Zavala County, Texas.

Talk of screwworm detection has increased this week, shaking the US livestock industry.

Although many animals, including humans, can fall victim to the parasite, screwworm is particularly dangerous to livestock. Female screwworms lay hundreds of eggs in the wounds and openings of warm-blooded creatures, allowing their larvae to feed on live animals, causing deep, festering, life-threatening wounds. Although screwworm was once endemic in the United States, it was eradicated amid years-long control efforts in the 1960s. The USDA estimates that keeping screwworms out of the United States has occurred The livestock industry saved $900 million annually.

But the fly has infiltrated control efforts in Central America and is getting closer and closer. On May 28, a case was found 25 miles from the border in a five-year-old goat in Coahuila, Mexico, according to the USDA. The case was one of several detected in recent days, including one in a calf just 39 miles from the border, also in Coahuila.

Disputed discoveries

In a media call on Tuesday, Agriculture Minister Brooke Rollins said: “There is no doubt that this represents a very serious threat to our livestock.” But she also casts doubt on claims that the fly has become closer or even already present in the United States.

On Monday, State Representative Don McLaughlin claimed on social media that a case of screwworm had just been found One mile from the Texas borderwhich Rollins and The USDA denied it.

“When this false information spreads, it causes great panic.” Rollins said Tuesday, according to the Texas Tribune. “And that’s true, especially if it’s coming from elected officials and the media.”

Wednesday, Reuters reported that McLaughlin suspected the fly was here now. He said samples taken Tuesday from two calves at a farm in La Priore, Texas — located in Zavala County, where the screwworm infection was confirmed — tested positive for screwworm infection. One infection was said to be in a wound in the umbilical cord of one of the calves. McLaughlin said he had seen photos and videos of the animals, and that the larvae seen in them looked like screwworm larvae.

Reuters was shown one of the images, which it said showed “multiple screwworm-like larvae inside a bloody circular wound on an animal,” but said it was “unable to immediately verify the image.”

“At this point, it is not certain that it is a New World screwworm,” McLaughlin told the outlet earlier Wednesday. “It seems so, but it is not confirmed.”

With the result now confirmed, the USDA said Press release Wednesday night They are forming a “Unified Incident Command Team” with the Texas Animal Health Commission and sending response personnel to the area. It is also creating a 20-kilometre (12.4-mile) zone around detected infections for quarantine, restrictions on movement, increased surveillance and fly trapping.

The return of the screwworm

Screwworms were eradicated in the United States in the 1960s amid concerted efforts to wipe out their populations. This is done by aerial bombardment of sterile male flies, which is the most effective weapon against parasites. The mass release of failed studs drives out fertile males, preventing them from mating with females, who typically mate only once.

Using this method, called the sterile insect technique, flies were eradicated not only from the United States but from all of Central America. It was declared eliminated from Panama in 2006.