{"id":186,"date":"2026-06-04T04:40:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T04:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=186"},"modified":"2026-06-04T04:40:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T04:40:03","slug":"first-case-of-new-world-screwworm-confirmed-in-south-texas-cattle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=186","title":{"rendered":"First Case of New World Screwworm Confirmed in South Texas Cattle"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins confirmed Wednesday evening that a case of New World screwworm has been detected on a cattle ranch in south Texas \u2014 the first domestic detection of the flesh-eating parasite in more than six decades.<\/p>\n

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Rollins told reporters during a news briefing that the case is the only one actively being monitored and the only one confirmed.<\/p>\n

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) posted on X<\/u><\/span> that his office is monitoring a case in La Pryor, Texas \u2013 about 100 miles west of San Antonio \u2013 and working with officials to \u201cdetermine next steps as we push this threat back out of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has established a 20-kilometer infested zone, implemented quarantine and movement controls, and launched new surveillance systems in and around the zone, Rollins said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way this spreads is through animal movement,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis pest does not cause any sort of a food-safety issue. It is not a disease, rather an insect that feeds on living tissue,\u201d Rollins said, noting that animals treated early enough are able to recover and safely enter the food supply system.<\/p>\n

The confirmation of the pest is bad news for the cattle and livestock industry.<\/p>\n

After the USDA announced the possibility of a case in a post on social media earlier this week, feeder cattle futures fell as news of the possible detection spread<\/u><\/span>. The potential case comes as the U.S. cattle population is already at its lowest level in 75 years.<\/p>\n

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said he believes the USDA is not acting aggressively enough, and he called for the use of pesticides<\/u><\/span>.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor months, the screwworm has advanced rapidly through Mexico in spite of the USDA\u2019s existing gameplan,\u201d Miller said in a statement. \u201cEven though billions of sterile flies have been dispersed by USDA, the screwworm has still advanced over 1100 miles from southern Mexico to Texas, and USDA has missed an important component. Now that it appears the first screwworm has arrived in Texas, the consequences of that decision are now staring us in the face.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The New World screwworm \u2014 a parasitic fly whose larvae burrow into the open wounds of living animals \u2014 was eradicated from the United States in the 1960s. Its absence saves the U.S. economy nearly $3 billion annually.<\/p>\n

A screwworm outbreak could cost Texas alone around $1.8 billion annually, with cattle producers facing up to $745 million in losses each year, according to the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.<\/p>\n

The parasite has been moving north through Central America and Mexico for more than a year, with recent detections approaching the U.S.-Mexico border. As recently as Tuesday, the USDA confirmed a case in Coahuila, Mexico, roughly 25 miles south of the Texas border.<\/p>\n

Screwworm detections in Panama surged from roughly 25 cases per year to more than 6,500 in 2023, and the parasite spread northward<\/u><\/span> through Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and ultimately into Mexico by November 2024.<\/p>\n

The pest\u2019s resurgence has prompted years of escalating U.S. response efforts.<\/p>\n

The core of the containment strategy has been the sterile insect technique \u2014 releasing infertile flies to suppress wild populations. A sterile fly dispersal facility in Edinburg, Texas, capable of releasing up to 100 million sterile flies per week, opened in February<\/u><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Rollins cast some blame on the Biden administration for the pest crossing into America, pointing to open borders as a source of the flies movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was always the problem with the last administration, open border policies, the movement of humans and their livestock from South America through Central America and through Mexico, and then, of course, the illicit movement of cattle with the cartels,\u201d she said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis pest does not cause any sort of a food safety issue,\u201d Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-news"],"yoast_head":"\nFirst Case of New World Screwworm Confirmed in South Texas Cattle - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=186\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First Case of New World Screwworm Confirmed in South Texas Cattle - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cThis pest does not cause any sort of a food safety issue,\u201d Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=186\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-04T04:40:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=186#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=186\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"First Case of New World Screwworm Confirmed in South Texas Cattle\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-04T04:40:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=186\"},\"wordCount\":651,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=186#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/4a6239d4c6d6fe035242970c2b40f4b0-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"U.S. News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=186#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=186\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=186\",\"name\":\"First Case of New World Screwworm Confirmed in South Texas Cattle - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=186#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=186#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/4a6239d4c6d6fe035242970c2b40f4b0-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-04T04:40:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=186#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=186\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=186#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/4a6239d4c6d6fe035242970c2b40f4b0-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/4a6239d4c6d6fe035242970c2b40f4b0-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"A calf is evaluated by a veterinary during a veterinary inspection in Hermosillo, Sonora State, Mexico, Monday, July 28, 2025. 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