{"id":144872,"date":"2026-01-31T01:39:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T01:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/144872\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T01:39:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T01:39:07","slug":"how-state-agencies-are-working-to-combat-the-new-world-screwworm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/144872\/","title":{"rendered":"How state agencies are working to combat the New World Screwworm"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON \u2013 Texas Governor Greg Abbott has issued a statewide disaster declaration<\/a> in order to better equip state agencies to prevent the potential spread of the New World Screwworm fly into Texas and to better protect livestock and wildlife.<\/p>\n

The fly has spread into Mexico and state agencies are working to ensure it does not spread any further into Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough the\u00a0New World\u00a0screwworm fly\u00a0is not yet present in Texas or the U.S., its northward spread from Mexico toward the U.S. southern border poses a serious threat to Texas\u2019 livestock industry and wildlife,\u201d said Governor Abbott. \u201cState law authorizes me to act to prevent a threat of infestation that could cause severe damage to Texas property, and I will not wait for such harm to reach our livestock and wildlife. With this statewide disaster declaration, the Texas NWS Response Team can fully utilize all state government prevention and response resources to prevent the re-emergence of this destructive parasite. Texas is prepared\u00a0to fully eradicate this pest\u00a0if need be.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

What is the New World Screwworm?<\/p>\n

The New World Screwworm fly is a fly native to South America and the Caribbean. Its historical range includes regions of Central America and up into the southern United States, although it was officially declared eradicated in the United States in 1966<\/a>. Smaller , localized outbreaks have occurred, including one in Texas in 1975-1976.<\/p>\n

The fly spreads when a female fly lays its eggs on open wounds or on other parts of the body in warm-blooded animals. This can lead to a condition called Myiasis, which is a parasitic infestation of larvae (maggots) on tissue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey actually eat live flesh, its like right out of a horror movie, its not pleasant I promise you, bad odor, bad visual, there\u2019s nothing about it pretty,\u201d said Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller.<\/p>\n

Although Myiasis primarily affects livestock, people can also be affected.<\/p>\n

Miller says he believes a lot of the spread has been hitchhiking insects either on transported infected livestock as well as on vehicles. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have surveillance fly traps all up and down the Mexican border and I\u2019ve put them around the cruise ship terminals in Galveston and Corpus Christi in case there\u2019s some of those hitchhikers, those cruise ship actually go down into parts of Mexico where the fly is most active,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The economic and environmental threat<\/p>\n

Miller says should the screwworm spread to Texas, the environmental and economic cost could be disastrous.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust the speculation or rumor that Texas now has screwworms crashes the livestock futures market, I mean it just goes off the board, its so volatile, just the talk of it can crash livestock markets, we have a $30 billion livestock industry that would certainly be affected there, we might end up with quarantines where we couldn\u2019t ship cattle in certain areas if it was a real bad outbreak,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Not only could it affect livestock and wildlife, it could also affect pets and people should the flies make it to Texas. <\/p>\n

How Texas is responding<\/p>\n

Commissioner Miller explained why Governor Abbott has issued a disaster declaration despite the fly not being detected in the state at this time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pre-emptive basically, it allows agencies like mine, the Texas Department of Agriculture, Animal Health Department, Parks and Wildlife, Division of Emergency Management, it gives us the ready tools to act quickly and responsively in case we do get it,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

He says this declaration would allow the state to get assets from federal partners, such as funding and access to sterile flies which are used to help stop the spread of the insects. The flies mate with the female flies and because the flies only mate once in a lifetime and the males are sterile, the eggs are infertile and do not hatch.<\/p>\n

Miller says one of the concerning aspects of the situation right now is the flies are still spreading to the south even in winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIts within 187 miles of our border in the middle of winter, that\u2019s the troubling part, usually its dormant, you don\u2019t have flies in the middle of winter but we do now, so if we have swarms of screwworm flies just across our border in the winter time, unfortunately I think we are probably going to have them because we just aren\u2019t stopping them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Miller said the state has released almost 5 billion sterile flies to help combat the screwworm, but new cases continue to pop up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have this isolated case maybe a 50-square mile area just south of McAllen and we\u2019ve probably released 500 million flies there and we still have new cases every week, so what we are doing is not working,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said he recently met with the leaders of Mexico and 11 Central American countries and discussed research on fly bait that was made by USDA.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1975 we have 29,000 cases, we released the bait and it wiped them out and we haven\u2019t had them since, you can go to the hardware store and buy fly bait, I use it around my barn for barn flies, stable flies, but there\u2019s not one made specifically for screwworm flies, If we could get that, I think we could arrest this problem and put it to bed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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