U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced in a Thursday news conference that the total number of New World screwworm cases has risen to seven since last week’s breakout.
Rollins rode through the Chaparrosa Ranch, where the first New World screwworm was located, on horseback. She met the cattle infected by the flesh-eating parasite.
One of the cattle infected by the parasite is a three-week-old calf. Rollins and the rancher who owns the baby cow said the animal has fully recovered.
Screwworm flies lay their eggs in wounds or orifices of warm-blooded animals. When they hatch within 12 to 24 hours, the resulting larvae eat further into the host, which can cause severe, often deadly damage if not treated.
The pest had largely been gone from the U.S. for decades. As of Thursday, the nearest case to San Antonio is in Gillespie County.
Rollins also stated, “The food supply is completely safe,” after discussing the status of the calf.
Since February, the secretary said more than a one hundred million, Panama produced, sterile flies were released in Texas.
The pest was an annual warm-weather scourge of cattle ranchers from at least the 1930s through the 1960s, until the U.S. eradicated it by breeding sterile male flies and dropping swarms of them from planes to mate with wild females.
The U.S. was declared free of indigenous screwworms in 1966, though there were still outbreaks into the 1970s.
According to the USDA, the last screwworm case was reported in 1982, and “only a handful of imported cases have been reported since then.”
>> What to know about New World screwworms: a flesh-eating pest reappearing in Texas
The rancher in La Pryor described his process of detecting the parasite that infected his 3-week-old calf.
The rancher said he didn’t know what was wrong at first, but they were concerned enough to contact Texas Animal Health through a veterinary office in Pearsall.
The rancher received confirmation two days later that the calf was infected by the New World screwworm.
“They started dropping flies immediately within 24 to 48 hours,” the rancher said Thursday.
Since then, the rancher said there hasn’t been another fly affecting his animals. He encourages people to reach out for help if they suspect a potential screwworm infection.
What you can do
- Check for and treat wounds on your animals — even small ones like tick bites — to keep the flies out
- Report any suspected cases
- Texas Animal Health Commission: (800) 550-8242
- Texas Parks & Wildlife: (512) 389-4505
More information can be found on the USDA’s website.
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