Using Sterile Insects to Eradicate New World Screwworm

Breaking news headlines this week have told of an agreement between U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Mexico when it comes to the handling of a damaging pest, the New World screwworm, which was detected in Mexico late this past fall.

And while the headlines on the topic are skewing politically, there’s another, more biological story underlying. National Cattlmen’s Beef Association Chief Veterinarian Dr. Kathy Simmons talks eradication…

“We have a way to control New World screwworm called ‘sterile insect technique’ where we release eradiated male screwworms that are sterile into the environment. They mate with female who only mate once and, over time, will decrease to eventually eliminate the population.”

These sterile male flies are produced at a facility in Panama.

While it sounds simple enough scientifically, Dr. Simmons says it isn’t without political challenges…

“Unfortunately we’ve had problems with the sterile insect technique in Mexico in that the plances that we have coming from Panama do not seem to be able to get permission to disperse the flies and to land.”

The flight issues seem to be the crux of current discussions between the countries.

While NWS is rare in the U.S., it isn’t unheard of. It hasn’t been an issue in the U.S. since 1966 outside of a small outbreak in the Florida Keys in 2016 that was controlled within five months.