First Human Case of New World Screwworm Reported in the United States
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has reported the first human case in the United States of travel-associated New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite. The case was investigated by the Maryland Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and was confirmed by the CDC as New World screwworm on August 4. The patient had traveled to El Salvador, according to HHS spokesman Andrew G. Nixon.
The risk to public health in the United States from this introduction is very low, said Nixon. The U.S. government has not confirmed any cases in animals this year.
Cattle ranchers, beef producers, and livestock traders are already on high alert for potential U.S. infestations as screwworm has moved northward from Central America and southern Mexico.
Related
What are Screwworms?
Screwworms are parasitic flies whose females lay eggs in wounds on any warm-blooded animal. Once the eggs hatch, hundreds of screwworm larvae use their sharp mouths to burrow through living flesh, eventually killing their host if left untreated.
The maggots’ feeding is similar to a screw being driven into wood, giving the pests their name.
Related
Screwworms can be devastating in cattle and wildlife, and rarely infest humans, though an infestation in either an animal or a person can be fatal.
Treatment is onerous, and involves removing hundreds of larvae and thoroughly disinfecting wounds. But infestations are typically survivable if treated early enough.
Government Response
The government’s confirmation of a screwworm case comes just over a week after U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins traveled to Texas to announce plans to build a sterile fly facility there as part of efforts to combat the pest.
The USDA has estimated a screwworm outbreak could cost the economy in Texas, the biggest U.S. cattle-producing state, about $1.8 billion in livestock deaths, labor costs, and medication expenses.
The CDC was required to report the positive New World screwworm case to both Maryland health officials and the Maryland state veterinarian, adding that the CDC also notified other agriculture stakeholders.
Screwworms and the Beef and Cattle Industry
Livestock traders and beef producers have been on edge about the potential for cases in cattle as prices have already hit record highs because the U.S. cattle herd is at its smallest size in seven decades.
Related
The USDA has set traps and sent mounted officers along the border, but it has faced criticism from some cattle producers and market analysts for not acting faster to pursue increased fly production.
Rollins first announced plans for a sterile fly facility at Moore Air Force Base in Edinburg, Texas — near where a production facility to combat screwworm operated during the last major outbreak 50 years ago — in June, saying that the facility would take two to three years to come online.
Mexico has also taken efforts to limit the spread of the pest, which can kill livestock within weeks if not treated. The Mexican government said in July that it started to build a $51 million sterile fly production facility in the country’s south.
Related
The sole operating plant is in Panama City and can produce a maximum of 100 million sterile screwworm flies each week. The USDA has estimated that 500 million flies would need to be released weekly to push the fly back to the Darien Gap, the stretch of rainforest between Panama and Colombia.
Screwworms have been traveling north through Mexico from Central America since 2023. They are endemic in Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and countries in South America, according to the USDA.
Mexico reported a new case about 370 miles south of the U.S. border in Ixhuatlan de Madero, Veracruz, in July. The USDA immediately ordered the closure of livestock trade through southern ports of entry, after previously halting imports in November and May.
The U.S. typically imports over a million cattle from Mexico a year to fatten in feedlots and process into beef.
Screwworms were eradicated from the United States in the 1960s when researchers began releasing massive numbers of sterilized male screwworm flies that mate with wild female screwworms to produce infertile eggs.
Conclusion
The first human case of New World screwworm in
