{"id":325705,"date":"2026-06-06T15:46:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T15:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/325705\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T15:46:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T15:46:07","slug":"new-world-screwworm-spreads-as-second-case-of-flesh-eating-parasite-is-confirmed-in-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/325705\/","title":{"rendered":"New World screwworm spreads as second case of flesh-eating parasite is confirmed in Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

The second case was found in a month-old calf 5.6 miles away from where the first case was detected, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.<\/p>\n

ZAVALA COUNTY, Texas \u2014 A second case of New World screwworm was confirmed Friday in Texas, where officials are ramping up efforts to stop the flesh-eating parasite from spreading.\u00a0<\/p>\n

New World screwworm is a parasite whose larvae burrow into the living tissue of warm-blooded animals, and poses a serious threat to livestock, pets, wildlife and, in rare cases, people, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n


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The first case was confirmed June 3 in a 3-week-old calf in La Pryor, Texas, which is about 100 miles southwest of San Antonio near the U.S.-Mexico border.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The second case was found in a month-old calf in Zavala County, approximately 5.6 miles away from the first detection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The USDA said the current infestation is the first in Texas since 1966 and was otherwise considered eradicated in the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott warned Friday of an “extremely challenging summer” and expanded a statewide disaster proclamation.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

State law gives broad authority to the Texas governor and health commissioner in times of crisis. This includes the ability to waive laws that hinder state agencies\u2019 ability to appropriately respond to screwworm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The USDA is fighting the outbreak by releasing millions of sterile flies per week over the south Texas region in an effort to control the population. Releasing sterile flies is both time-tested and highly effective. Once sterile males are prevalent enough, the fly\u2019s population declines and then dies out.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has also issued emergency use authorizations for several New World screwworm treatments for different species.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An infestation can be deadly is not treated, though a dozen treatments have been approved for use in a variety of species. In decades past, ranchers had tens of millions of dollars in losses \u2014 potentially billions in today’s dollars.<\/p>\n

The U.S. food supply remains safe, according to the USDA, as screwworms do not infest meat, fruits, vegetables or other food products. However, state and federal officials warn that the infestation poses a threat to the $113 billion U.S. cattle industry if it is not contained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As of now, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said it\u2019s unlikely to damage beef production.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The second case was found in a month-old calf 5.6 miles away from where the first case was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-325705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}