U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced measures Monday, June 9, to contain the New World screwworm parasite after the pest was detected in Texas — a development that has ranchers and federal officials scrambling to keep it from spreading further into cattle country.
The screwworm is a flesh-eating fly larva that burrows into the open wounds of warm-blooded animals. Livestock producers consider it one of the most destructive parasites their herds can face. The U.S. had eradicated it domestically decades ago; its return to Texas is the core of the current alarm.
Background
New World screwworm — Cochliomyia hominivorax — was wiped out of the United States through a long federal eradication campaign that relied on releasing sterile flies to interrupt the pest’s breeding cycle. That program pushed the parasite south, holding it below the Mexico border for years. Its reappearance north of that line is what prompted Rollins to act.
The USDA hasn’t detailed exactly which Texas counties are affected or how many animals have been confirmed infested. Those specifics hadn’t been released by Monday morning, according to NPR’s reporting. What Rollins did announce were containment measures — though the precise scope of those steps, including whether they involve movement restrictions on livestock, wasn’t immediately clear from the agency’s announcement.
Nebraska runs roughly 6.5 million cattle — one of the largest herds of any state — making the screwworm’s trajectory a matter producers here are watching. The parasite doesn’t need to cross a state line to hit markets; any federal quarantine or trade disruption tied to Texas cattle could affect prices and shipments across the Plains.
The USDA hasn’t said whether it’s expanding the sterile-fly release program that historically kept screwworm at bay, or what timeline it expects for getting the outbreak under control.
Reported by NPR. Read the original report.
