{"id":326029,"date":"2026-06-06T23:27:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T23:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/326029\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T23:27:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T23:27:13","slug":"texas-just-confirmed-a-second-case-of-the-flesh-eating-screwworm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/326029\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas just confirmed a second case of the flesh-eating screwworm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just two days after federal officials confirmed the first New World screwworm case in Texas<\/a> in decades, a second infected animal has now been identified in the same region of South Texas.<\/p>\n

According to Reuters<\/a>, the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed Friday that a one-month-old calf in Zavala County tested positive for the flesh-eating parasite.<\/a> The second case was detected roughly 5.6 miles from the first confirmed Texas case announced earlier this week.<\/p>\n

The USDA said the latest infestation was discovered after officials tested multiple suspected cases in the area.<\/p>\n

“APHIS and Texas Animal Health Commission officials are continuing to collect and test other samples from the surrounding area which have come back negative,” the agency said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The new case marks another setback for Texas ranchers and state officials who have spent months preparing for the parasite’s arrival as it steadily moved north through Mexico.<\/p>\n

New World screwworm is a parasitic fly whose larvae feed on living tissue. Female flies lay eggs in open wounds or body openings of warm-blooded animals. Once hatched, the larvae burrow into flesh and can cause severe injury or death if left untreated.<\/p>\n

The parasite was eradicated from the United States decades ago, but agricultural officials have warned for months that its continued spread through Mexico posed a growing threat to Texas livestock and wildlife.<\/p>\n

Gov. Greg Abbott has already issued a statewide disaster declaration<\/a> related to the screwworm threat and on Friday announced additional state resources would be deployed to help contain the parasite and support response efforts in South Texas.<\/p>\n

State officials also emphasized the outbreak does not pose a food safety risk to consumers.<\/p>\n

“What we’re dealing with is an infestation of animals. However, there is no food safety issue, full stop,” Abbott said during a Friday news conference. “Food production issue, but not a food safety issue.”<\/p>\n

Federal officials have invested heavily in prevention efforts, including expanded trapping programs, livestock monitoring and the release of sterile flies designed to interrupt the parasite’s reproductive cycle.<\/p>\n

While officials stress the confirmed cases remain localized, the discovery of a second infected animal so close to the first case is likely to intensify monitoring efforts across South Texas as ranchers and wildlife officials work to prevent further spread.<\/p>\n

More News<\/p>\n

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Revivals | Bed Bath & Beyond returns from the dead in Texas<\/a>
Upgrades | Some of Houston’s most busted sidewalks are finally getting fixed<\/a><\/p>\n

For the latest and best from Chron, sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally published at Texas just confirmed a second case of the flesh-eating screwworm<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just two days after federal officials confirmed the first New World screwworm case in Texas in decades, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[73046,392,1474,27,60364,29,28,75216],"class_list":["post-326029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-confirmed-cases","tag-greg-abbott","tag-south-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-animal-health-commission","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-zavala-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326029","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=326029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}