USDA Response to NWS Case in Texas

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

In recent months we’ve reported several times about the threat of New World Screwworm crossing over our southern border and into U.S. livestock. The USDA has implemented several proactive measures to try to address this threat, but this week, for the first time, there has been a confirmed case of New World Screwworm in a Texas calf. Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins lays out their response.

Rollins… “ We are taking immediate action. 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 twenty-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 Screwworm flies, which is how we solve for the issue by immediately deploying a four million ground release chambers in the area in addition to the four million sterile flies per week already being released aerially in the area. We are increasing trapping and surveillance for New World Screwworm flies along the border just outside of the dispersal area. We are implementing New World Screwworm surveillance for the New World Screwworm flies along the border and just outside of the dispersal area. We are implementing additional surveillance and management strategies in wildlife and conducting targeted outreach in the local area as well as across the state.”

The pest does not present an imminent threat to humans, but is a big concern for livestock producers.