By Aldgra Fredly
Contributing Writer
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Sunday that three more cases of the flesh-eating New World screwworm have been detected in Texas, bringing the total in the United States to 15.
The latest cases involved a lamb in Crockett County and two calves in Edwards County, Texas. The USDA said in a post on X that it would immediately begin releasing sterile flies outside the affected areas in Crockett County following the new detection there.
According to the agency, the new cases in Edwards County were expected because they occurred within the current affected areas, where sterile flies were already being released.
“Because a fly’s life cycle is an average of 21 days, it takes multiple reproductive cycles for populations to die off following sterile fly releases. As such, we may continue to see cases occur in already affected zones — a sign that our surveillance is working,” it stated.
The USDA said it would continue carrying out “aggressive eradication efforts” alongside state partners, including deploying tens of millions of sterile flies each week in and around the infestation area.
On June 11, the Food and Drug Administration authorized the emergency use of generic nitenpyram for treating New World screwworm infestations in dogs, puppies, cats, and kittens that weigh at least 2 pounds and are older than three weeks. The drug is made by Felix Pharmaceuticals.
Acting FDA Commissioner Kyle Diamantas said in a June 11 statement that the agency has spent nearly a year preparing for the possible arrival of the screwworm in the country.
“As of today, under the Trump administration’s decisive leadership, the FDA has issued 10 EUAs [emergency use authorizations] and three conditional approvals for drugs to combat this threat, and this count will continue to grow as we receive more animal drug submissions and unleash American regulatory speed,” Diamantas said.
New World screwworms are flesh-eating parasites that infect livestock, wildlife, and, in rarer cases, humans. Screwworm fly maggots burrow into the living tissue of animals, causing severe wounds that can be fatal.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least seven people have died from screwworm infections in Central America and Mexico as of Jan. 20.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has also deployed all available state resources earlier this month to eradicate screwworms after the first confirmed case in South Texas on June 3.
The screwworm fly was officially eradicated from the United States in 1966 through a strategy primarily involving the release of sterile males, which mated with females, resulting in infertile eggs.
Zachary Stieber and Darlene McCormick Sanchez contributed to this report.
