APHIS Strike Team Deployed to South Texas
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
The New World Screwworm has been identified just 25 miles south of the U.S. Mexico border. To try to protect American livestock producers, the United States Department of Agriculture has taken proactive measures to put a plan in place against the pest. Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Dudley Hoskins explains the USDA response.
Hoskins… “ While we are working around the clock to keep this parasitic pest out of the United States, I want to be clear about what the screwworm is not. The screwworm is not contagious. It does not spread directly from animals to people or from person to person, and the screwworm does not pose a food safety risk. It spreads only when a screwworm fly lays eggs in a wound, not through meat, poultry, or dairy products. It is, however, a serious concern for USDA, our state partners, our producers, and because of the potential disruption it could cause to the US livestock industry if a detection is not quickly identified and treated. That is why following the confirmation of the twenty-five mile detection in Coahuila, the secretary immediately deployed an APHIS strike team to South Texas. That team is on the ground now as part of our unified incident management team with Texas Animal Health Commission and additional assets, and we will continue to calibrate our footprint and our work in Texas to reflect the latest situation report and what the facts on the ground are telling us.”
That’s Dudley Hoskins with the USDA.
