Two more Texas screwworm infections found in animals far apart, USDA says
The USDA said the new cases were found in a calf and a dog, bringing the total confirmed Texas cases to four.
- Two cases of the New World screwworm parasite have been confirmed in South Texas, raising concerns about prior open-border policies and illegal cattle movement.
- The affected animals are expected to recover, and the food supply will not be impacted since the screwworm is not a virus.
- The risk to humans is historically low, and concerns for Americans have been dismissed, although some people with open wounds outside the U.S. have been affected.
- Efforts to combat the outbreak include dropping roughly 10 million sterile flies weekly in Texas to mate with female screwworms and stop their spread.
136 Articles
136 Articles
The parasite was eliminated from the United States in 1966, except for some limited reappearance, including an outbreak in the Florida Keys eliminated in 2017. However, since 2023 it is moving north again through Central America and Mexico.
Flesh-eating fly is back and spreading past Texas
Three more cases of the New World screwworm have been confirmed, including one outside the main cluster in Texas, demonstrating the difficulty of stopping a resurgent pest that could devastate the nation’s cattle industry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Monday.
East TN cattle farmer, UT expert prepare for potential screwworm outbreak
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is working to contain an outbreak of the flesh-eating screwworm parasite in Texas, after two cases were reported just six miles apart last week. In the 1950s and 60s, the USDA eradicated the New World screwworm, named for its screwhead-shaped larvae, in the United States. Now [...]
Elon Musk Faces Backlash as a Horrific Texas Screwworm Outbreak Follows Brutal DOGE Budget Cuts
A flesh-eating livestock parasite not seen in the United States for 60 years has crossed the Texas border, months after the federal programmes that might have slowed it were dismantled under Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficienc (DOGE). On 3 June 2026, the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service confirmed the detection of the New World screwworm in a bovine in Zavala County, Texas. It was the first conf…
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