{"id":432393,"date":"2026-09-11T02:48:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T02:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/432393\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T02:48:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T02:48:19","slug":"texas-reports-first-equine-infection-of-new-world-screwworm-on-ranch-horse-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/432393\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas reports first equine infection of New World screwworm on ranch horse | Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

A horse in southern Texas<\/a> has been infected with the New World screwworm, marking the first US equine infection as health authorities race to contain an outbreak of the flesh-eating parasite.<\/p>\n

The pest was discovered on the hind limb of a working ranch horse in Presidio county, according to a statement<\/a> on Thursday from US Equestrian Foundation.<\/p>\n

The foundation advised horse owners to monitor the animals daily for wounds, foul odor or maggots.<\/p>\n

The screwworm, a fly larva, can nestle into and infest open wounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cCheck horses daily, keep wounds clean and covered as directed by your veterinarian, use veterinarian-recommended fly control products and limit fly access with physical barriers such as fly masks, sheets and clean stabling practices when appropriate,\u201d the foundation\u2019s statement read.<\/p>\n

The Texas Animal Health Commission, has restricted the movement of warm-blooded animals outside of infested zones in parts of Presidio and Jeff Davis counties, among several others, to curb new infestations.<\/p>\n

After being eradicated decades ago, the screwworm was detected in June<\/a> on a calf in Zavala county, near the US-Mexico border. A screwworm infestation has spread throughout Mexico.<\/p>\n

Of the 49 US cases recorded this year, all have been in Texas, except for one in New Mexico, where the pest was found on a dog, according to the US Department of Agriculture.<\/p>\n

The resurgence of the parasite, which can cause severe injury or death in animals, has raised alarm<\/a> about potential financial devastation to Texas ranchers.<\/p>\n

Greg Abbott, the Texas governor, issued a disaster proclamation in June to mobilize state resources toward coping with the rising screwworm presence.<\/p>\n

Before the pest was reported on American soil, the Trump administration announced<\/a> the launch of a sterile fly dispersal facility in Edinburg. If female screwworm flies mate with a sterile fly, their offspring will not be viable, thus curbing the population.<\/p>\n

Reuters contributed reporting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A horse in southern Texas has been infected with the New World screwworm, marking the first US equine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-432393","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\/432393","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=432393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}