Screwworm Reappears in Texas With Four Confirmed Cases

Overview

• Federal officials have confirmed four cases of the New World screwworm in Texas, including recent infections in a calf in La Salle County and a dog in Andrews County.
• The USDA says the infestations do not pose an immediate threat to the food supply and has started weekly releases of roughly 10 million sterile male flies to stop local breeding.
• The agency plans to scale sterile‑insect production and invest more than $1 billion in containment and eradication efforts while investigators probe a likely Mexico link for at least one case.
• Texas officials and industry leaders have criticized the pace of the federal response and warned that wider spread could cause calf deaths, weight loss in cattle and higher beef prices.
• The screwworm was eradicated from the U.S. in the 1960s and is controlled by releasing sterile males that mate with wild females so they produce no offspring, a tactic authorities now hope will again halt the pest’s northward advance.