New World Screwworm Crosses Border

The USDA has confirmed the first case of New World screwworm has been found in Southern Texas. It's been confirmed in the umbilical cord of an eight-week-old calf in La Proyer, Texas. USDA Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins talked about her agency's reaction, which is already underway.

“Already begun to deploy to contain and eradicate this case of the New World screw worm in South Texas. We have number one formed a unified incident command team with the Texas Animal Health Commission, and deployed our APHIS response team and personnel to the area. They are already on the ground. We have established a 20-kilometer infested zone around the detection and implementing quarantines, movement controls, and surveillance in this area. We have expedited targeted release of the sterile New World screw room flies, which is how we solve for the issue, of course, by immediately deploying 4 million ground release chambers in the area, in addition to the 4 million sterile flies per week already being released aerially in the area,

Rollins emphasized this is not a food safety issue.

“It is not a disease, but simply an insect that feeds on living tissues.”

In addition, Rollins says this is not just a cattle or livestock issue, as the pest can be found on domestic pets like cats and dogs.