HARLINGEN, Texas (Border Report) — Texas officials are urging ranchers and those with livestock to take preventative measures to stop the New World screwworm from infecting herds should the pest cross north of the border.
On Monday, the parasitic fly was reported just 70 miles south of the border in the small town of Sabine Hidalgo in the Mexican border state of Nuevo León .
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday said the infected cow has been isolated and quarantined and measures are being taken to stop further infections.
The cow was among 100 that arrived in a shipment from Veracruz and had traveled over 1,000 miles from southern Mexico, according to reports.
“We are managing an isolated case of New World Screwworm in Nuevo León and applying the measures agreed upon just over a month ago with the United States government,” Mexico’s Agriculture Minister Julio Berdegue said Monday in a post on X.
The New World screwworm is not a worm. It’s a parasitic fly that lays its larvae in wounds and seeks out odorous areas to put the larvae. The larvae cause infection and can kill an animal within two weeks. It can even infect pests and people, like the case of a woman from Maryland who had traveled to El Salvador in August and returned infected, according to reports.
Since first being discovered in Mexico in November, the country has had over 5,000 cases of New World screwworm.
If it reaches the Texas border, it could cause $1 billion in economic losses to the Texas cattle industry, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn says. It could cost the overall economy $3.7 billion, he says.
Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell is a rancher whose border county is the closest to Sabinas Hidalgo, Mexico, where the infected cow is.
In a recent conversation with Border Report, he said he is scared the pest will cross the border.
“Living along the border, and ranching on the border, we deal with fever ticks for many many years. That hasn’t gone away. But now the major concern is hopefully the screwworm won’t make it our way,” Rathmell said. “It would place a big hurt on any ranchers trying to handle cattle down here and wildlife, too.”
On Tuesday, Texas Agriculture Secretary Sid Miller urged the immediate use of pesticide bait to try to stop the spread of the New World screwworm.
“The screwworm is dangerously close,” Miller said. “Using bait followed by sterile flies is the one-two punch we need to knock the New World screwworm out.”
Historically, dichlorvos strips were used to eradicate flies, killing up to 90% of flies on contact. Now Miller says there also is a new attractant that mimics the smell of rotting flesh, which can lure New World screwworms.
Swormlure bait is a synthetic bait designed to attract adult screwworm flies and may be highly effective when combined with insecticides such as dichlorvos, the Texas Department of Agriculture announced in a July newsletter.
“Deploy the bait, stop this pest, and protect our cattle industry. It’s that simple,” Miller said Tuesday. “It nearly wiped out our cattle industry before; we need to act forcefully now. That’s why I insist we start using pesticide bait immediately. It took 29 years to eradicate the screwworm with sterile flies alone, and we don’t have that kind of time this time around. Time is of the essence.”
The parasite last wreaked havoc in the United States in the 1950s, costing farmers an estimated $50-$100 million per year in the American Southwest. Despite being eradicated from the United States in 1966, frequent outbreaks in Mexico cost Texas’s economy $283-$375 million per year before the countries worked together to push the parasite out of Mexico.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says U.S. inspectors are on the ground in Nuevo León “physically inspecting traps and dispersing sterile flies after the detection of the single case,” she posted Monday on X.
Rollins says over 8,000 traps have already been deployed in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. And the United States has spent over $100 million in technology to eradicate the pest.
A ban of Mexican cattle and livestock is also in effect to prevent the spread.
In addition, over $100 million sterile flies are being released weekly on southern Mexico and the infected region. Many of the planes carrying the sterile flies originate at Moore Air Base in Hidalgo County on South Texas.
“The infrastructure and current government operations at Moore Airforce Base are essential to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s mission. The New World Screwworm poses an incredible threat to livestock, livelihoods, and the RGV economy,” Democratic state Rep. Terry Canales, whose district includes Edinburg, said in a statement Tuesday.
Canales is urging Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to sign House Concurrent Resolution 13, which was passed during a recent Special Session by the Texas Legislature, that calls on urgent federal action to prevent the spread of the pest.
The federal government is currently building a sterile fly production facility at Moore Air Base, but that could take upwards of two years to complete.
In the meantime, Rollins says they are “expediting operations at our sterile fly dispersal facility at Moore Air Base.”
“This war for American agriculture demands TOTAL government firepower. Ensuring a resilient food supply is critical to safeguarding U.S. national security. Ranchers: Your fight is OUR fight. Stay vigilant!” Rollins posted.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
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