Kerrville, Texas. The authorities have confirmed three more cases of the screwworm of the New World in Texaswhich demonstrates the difficulty of stopping the spread of a plague that could devastate the livestock industry of the country, the Department of Agriculture announced on Monday.
The screwworm is actually a flywhich produces a larva that eats live flesh instead of dead material. The females put their eggs in open wounds from any warm-blooded animal, such as livestock, but wildlife, pets, and sometimes even humans can become infested.
Two of the new cases were reported in Texas, one in a calf in La Salle County, in the south of the state, and another in a goat in Gillespie County, in the central region.
The third new case reported today, which the USDA initially located in Texas, was detected in a dog in New Mexico, expanding the plague to two states in the United States.
With this, the total number of confirmed cases rises to five. Screwworm was first discovered last week in a 3-week-old calf, and a second case was found just a few kilometers away in a young calf.
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“While we attend to these cases that require immediate attention and continue to take samples of suspected cases, “We are working simultaneously to completely eradicate the pest,” said Dudley Hoskins, the department’s undersecretary of marketing and regulation.
Texas declared an emergency and issued disaster declaration in Zavala and Uvalde counties, in the south of the state.
The state governor, Greg Abbot, indicated today in a press conference that the measure allows “all available resources” to be mobilized and personnel to be reassigned throughout Texas to respond to the threat of this parasite.
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He also noted that the movement of sterile flies into the state, which they use to contain the plague, will accelerate and a new plant will be built to raise these insects in Edinburg, in the south of the state.
To eradicate this pest, the sterile insect technique is used, which consists of breed large numbers of flies in a laboratory, sterilize the males using radiation and release them in the affected areas.
These sterile males mate with wild females, who only reproduce once in their lives, preventing new viable larvae from being born.
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Before it was eliminated in the United States in the 1960s, the fly was an annual warm-weather scourge of livestock farmers.
The department and the U.S. livestock industry have been racing to prevent an infestation since the pest was detected in Mexico in late 2024, after decades of being contained to the southern tip of Panama.
The department has announced plans to increase production of sterile flies at plants outside the United States.
L.L.
