Texas has announced it would begin rolling out a new strategy to prevent the New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite carried by flies, from infiltrating farms near the southern border.
The New World screwworm is a type of fly that carries larvae, also known as maggots, that eat the living tissue of warm-blooded animals. The fly is typically found in the Caribbean and South America, but in 2023, cases in Panama exploded.
Since then, it has been spreading in northern Mexico, threatening the U.S. livestock industry as well as wildlife.
The Texas Department of Agriculture said Friday it will place tape traps in âhigh-riskâ areas along the Texas-Mexico border; near export pens where livestock is held; and at major ports in the hopes of detecting flies that cross over.
The traps will be documented and monitored weekly. Any flies collected will be identified and sent for testing to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
âThe New World screwworm poses a serious threat to Texas livestock and rural communities,â Texas Agricultural Commissioner Sid Miller said. âWe are taking proactive steps to monitor, detect, and stop this parasite before it harms Texas agriculture. Our farmers, ranchers, and consumers depend on us being ready, and we will be.â
The traps will be placed at livestock export pens in Brownsville, Del Rio, El Paso, Laredo, and Houston, and port regions around Galveston and Corpus Cristi.
So far, no cases of New World screwworm have been found in U.S. livestock but an infection can be devastating to animals. Female flies can lay up to 200 eggs at a time in a mucous membrane, making it difficult to control until maggots have eaten away at enough healthy tissue that the disease cannot be undone.
Left untreated, the parasitic infection can kill a fully grown cow within one to two weeks, NPR reported.
Cases of New World screwworm in humans are rare, but possible. In August, an individual in Maryland was determined to have contracted the parasite after traveling from El Salvador.
The new traps are part of a wider strategy by Texas and USDA to prevent New World screwworm from entering the U.S.
In August, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced a $750 million investment to construct a new facility that will produce sterile flies to combat the spread of the parasitic ones. Sterilizing flies is the most effective way to prevent the spread of New World screwworm.
Female screwworms mate only once in their 21-day life span. As more sterile screwworm flies are released, the population of fertile screwworms decreases until it eventually dies out, according to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
The U.S. spent millions during the 1960s to do so, but facilities were shut down after the threat was mitigated. The U.S. eradicated the species from the U.S. again in 2017 after a small outbreak in the Florida Keys.
The Department of Agriculture also said it would begin training detector dogs to detect infestations in livestock and other animals along the border to help prevent the spread via wildlife.
