USDA Reports 33 Screwworm Infections in Texas and New Mexico as Food Supply Risk Stays Low
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Jul 14
USDA Reports 33 Screwworm Infections in Texas and New Mexico as Food Supply Risk Stays Low
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 14
Summary
Thirty-three New World screwworm infections have been reported since early June in Texas and New Mexico animals, including cattle, goats and a pet dog, after the first U.S. case in decades was confirmed in a Texas calf on June 3.
The parasite spread north through Central America and Mexico after a 2023 outbreak in Panama and Costa Rica, infecting animals when flies lay eggs in wounds; experts say it is rarely a human threat.
USDA and outside specialists say the outbreak does not compromise the U.S. food supply because screwworm is not foodborne, infected livestock are quarantined or blocked from slaughter, and standard processing and cooking kill the parasite.
The USDA is using sterile male flies to suppress the outbreak and is backing that effort with a $21 million renovation of a Mexico production facility and a planned $750 million fly factory in Texas by November 2027.