Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller has issued another warning after the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed a New World screwworm case in Nuevo León, Mexico – roughly 60 miles from the Texas border.
The outbreak in Nuevo León is one of the northernmost detections of the parasite in Mexico. According to the Texas Department of Agriculture, the infected animal was a young calf, and the case was found within an area where sterile flies are already being released to help stop the screwworm parasite from spreading.
“The threat of the New World screwworm is creeping dangerously close to our border. A confirmed case in Nuevo León, just about 60 miles from the United States, in a young calf is a flashing red warning sign we will not ignore.” Miller said in a statement.
“This is now the northernmost active case in Mexico, and that puts Texas squarely in the crosshairs. The fact that this detection falls within the current sterile fly dispersal zone tells you just how real and active this fight already is,” he added.
Miller and his team are calling for federal and state officials to step up their responses, calling for stronger surveillance, closer coordination at the border, and the full use of all available resources.
The New World screwworm is a parasitic fly whose larvae feed on the living tissue of warm-blooded animals. Although it was wiped out in the United States in the 1960s, it has been steadily moving north through Mexico, raising growing concern and prompting increased action from state and federal officials in recent months.
In January, Gov. Greg Abbott even issued a statewide disaster declaration to mobilize resources to address the threat, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. That declaration came as detections were reported more than 200 miles from the border.
Since then, the flesh-eating parasite has closed that gap considerably, inching its way closer to farmers in Texas.
The federal government has since invested roughly $750 million in fighting the screwworm, including a facility near the border that produces 300 million “sterile male flies” per week. That strategy approach involves releasing sterile male flies into affected areas so they mate without producing offspring – a method that played a key role in wiping out the pest decades ago.
Even with those measures in place, Miller made it clear he believes the situation now calls for a more urgent and intensified response.
“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: when it comes to protecting our livestock industry we must go on offense. That means ramping up surveillance, tightening coordination at the border, and making absolutely certain every available resource is deployed to stop this dangerous pest,” Miller wrote.
“We’ve beaten the New World screwworm before, and we will beat it again, but only if we treat this threat with the seriousness it demands right now,” he added.
