US EditionLawmakers, USDA Seek to Combat New World Screwworm Along the Southern Border
- On June 18, 2025, the U.S. government unveiled a comprehensive five-part strategy to address the threat of New World screwworms, featuring a planned $8.5 million sterile fly production facility at Moore Air Base in Texas.
- Following the detection of screwworm approximately 700 miles south in Oaxaca and Veracruz, Mexico, authorities halted the entry of cattle, horses, and bison through ports along the U.S. southern border on May 11.
- The plan aims to increase sterile fly production domestically and retrofit a Mexican facility to breed an additional 60-100 million sterile flies weekly to halt screwworm reproduction.
- Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins expressed confidence that the U.S. will overcome the New World screwworm threat once more, while officials emphasized that releasing sterile flies remains the sole effective strategy to halt its spread.
- The plan underscores collaboration with Mexico, addresses wildlife transmission risks, and aims to reopen southern ports once screwworm presence recedes southward.
29 Articles
29 Articles
Fight against screwworm ramps up with reopening of sterile fly plant in Chiapas
The United States has announced the reopening and modernization of the sterile fly production plant in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas as part of a joint strategy with Mexico to combat cattle screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivorax), a pest that affects livestock and recently led to the temporary suspension of Mexican cattle imports by the U.S. Screwworm flies afflict livestock and other animals — including humans — by laying their larvae in op…
Veterinarian talks risks of 'Screwworm' to livestock
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) -- An insect, the New World Screwworm (NWS), is being described as one that could have a "devastating impact on livestock herds across the country." The NWS, not actually a worm, but rather the larval stage of a fly, is not in the U.S. as of this time. According to the USDA, there is a five-prong plan in place to prevent the NWS from reaching the U.S. Levitt, other events impacted by heat this weekend nws-visit-pol…
Lawmakers, USDA seek to combat New World screwworm along the southern border
The New World screwworm parasite has been detected in Mexico, prompting the U.S. Agriculture Department to launch an $8.5 million sterile fly production facility in South Texas to prevent an outbreak in the U.S.
The Secretary of Agriculture of Mexico, Julio Berdegué, confirmed this Wednesday that his American counterpart, the head of the Department of Agriculture (USDA), Brooke Rollins, has had an investment of 21 million dollars to renovate the plant for the production of sterile flies in Metapa in Domínguez, Chiapas. The goal is to generate about 100 million sterile flies each week, additional to those produced at the COPEG plant in Panama, and that, …
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