Texas screwworm cases don’t risk food supply, Brooke Rollins says
The U.S. food supply is “not at risk” from the return of the flesh-eating screwworm parasite to Texas, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Monday.
“It’s not a virus, it’s not a disease, it’s just a little pest, like a larva that lands on a calf wound, and it’s treatable,” Rollins said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“We’ve got boots on the ground… we can beat this, but we’re going to do everything we can, investing over a billion dollars to push this pest back into Mexico and then eliminate it like we did nearly 50 years ago,” he added.
His comments came shortly before the USDA confirmed two additional cases of screwworm in Texas, one in a calf in La Salle County and the other in a dog in Andrews County, bringing the total cases to four. The agency said more information about the new cases will be released, but initial reports indicate the dog was recently in Mexico.
The USDA confirmed the first positive case of screwworm in Texas on Wednesday. The screwworm cases are the first in the United States since the 1960s.
The New World screwworm is a parasitic fly whose larvae burrow into the flesh of living warm-blooded animals, causing painful sores that can be life-threatening if left untreated. The pest poses a risk to livestock, wildlife, pets and, in rare cases, humans.
Cattle roam a field in La Pryor, Texas, on June 6, 2026. The first case of the New World screwworm parasite since it was eradicated from the country in 1966 was reported Wednesday in La Pryor, Zavala County, by the United States Department of Agriculture.
Joel Angel Juarez | Getty Images
Screwworms do not infest meat, fruits, vegetables or other food products, according to the USDA. Still, the cases signal a troubling return of the parasite and raise questions about how to prevent its further spread into the United States, reviving a threat the country has worked decades to eliminate.
Texas agriculture officials, including Commissioner Sid Miller, criticized the USDA for a slow response that failed to prevent the New World screwworm from crossing the border. In response, Rollins said Miller’s recent comments were “disturbing, destructive, and very detrimental to what we’re trying to accomplish.”
“He knows we’re moving at Trump’s pace,” Rollins said.
He said he would rely on the same strategy the United States has used since the late 1950s, part of which includes releasing sterile insects to suppress the pest population. He said the U.S. is currently dropping about 10 million sterile flies a week into the affected area, both by air and land.
“We beat it before, we gotta beat it again,” Rollins said.
