Building a Bug Blockade

A pest that once devastated American livestock is back on the federal government’s radar, and officials are planning a new line of defense built on U.S. soil.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded a construction contract for a sterile fly production facility at Moore Air Base in Edinburg, Texas. The project, built with help from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will become the first sterile screwworm fly production facility located in the United States.

The move comes as New World Screwworm cases have reappeared in parts of Central America and Mexico, raising concerns the pest could move closer to U.S. livestock.

Despite the name, the screwworm is not a worm. It is the larval stage of a parasitic fly that lays eggs in wounds on livestock and wildlife. When the larvae hatch, they feed on living tissue and can cause severe infections.

Scientists control the pest by releasing sterile male flies. Currently, most of those flies are produced in Panama, with another facility being prepared in Mexico.

The new Texas plant will add domestic capacity to protect the U.S. livestock industry.