Overview
- U.S. Agriculture authorities confirmed a second New World screwworm infection in Zavala County, Texas, close to the first detected case and triggering an active containment response.
- Officials have established a 20-kilometer quarantine around the infected farm and restricted the movement of warm-blooded animals from the zone pending inspection.
- Control teams will deploy the sterile-insect technique used in the 1960s by releasing millions of sterilized male flies to break the parasite’s breeding cycle.
- The parasite’s biology raises fast spread risk because females lay 200–300 eggs at a time and up to about 3,000 eggs in their short life, and larvae feed on living tissue of livestock, wildlife, pets and sometimes humans.
- Authorities warn of big economic stakes if containment fails, with the USDA estimating a Texas-wide resurgence could cause roughly $1.8 billion in losses, and officials are coordinating with Mexican counterparts on the response.