Second screwworm case as fears of US outbreak grow
A second case of the “flesh-eating screwworm” parasite has been confirmed in Texas, appearing just miles from where the first detection in the United States in decades was reported.
The new case, confirmed Friday in Zavala County by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was detected on a farm six miles from the first positive case of screwworm in Texas, confirmed Wednesday.
The ministry said the infection was in a one-month-old calf.
The ministry’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said in a statement that it detected the second infestation “after testing a number of suspected cases.”
Authorities continue to “collect and test other negative samples from the surrounding area,” it said.
Friday’s case and the first detection in La Pryor, a town about 30 miles northeast of the U.S.-Mexico border, has created a setback for U.S. cattle farmers who were bracing for the arrival of the pest that moved north through Mexico last year.
Screwworms are parasitic flies that lay eggs in open wounds or mucous membranes of warm-blooded animals.
After hatching, the larvae penetrate living tissue and feed on the host, causing potentially fatal damage if left untreated.
In the 1960s, an epidemic in the US border states devastated wildlife and inflicted heavy financial losses on farmers.
A widespread resurgence could pose a significant economic threat to Texas, the nation’s largest cattle-producing state, due to animal deaths and high labor and treatment costs.
To limit the risk, Washington has kept the U.S.-Mexico border closed to live cattle imports for more than a year and has spent millions of dollars to prevent the pest from spreading northward, including financing sterile fly breeding, expanding trapping programs and stepping up animal monitoring.
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