{"id":275,"date":"2026-06-08T21:40:39","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T21:40:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=275"},"modified":"2026-06-08T21:40:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T21:40:39","slug":"new-world-screwworm-spreads-beyond-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=275","title":{"rendered":"New World Screwworm Spreads Beyond Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The New World screwworm has spread beyond Texas, with a new confirmed case in New Mexico, the Department of Agriculture announced Monday, just five days after the parasite was identified in the United States<\/u><\/span> for the first time in six decades.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Subject to Ignorance\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

A dog in Lea County, New Mexico, located on the Texas state line, tested positive for the parasite, and the USDA believes it to be an isolated case.<\/p>\n

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins insisted the confirmed cases \u2014 which now include two calves and a goat that tested positive in Texas \u2014 haven\u2019t caught the department off guard, but acknowledged that the agency\u2019s current tools to fight the parasite need to be ramped up. The screwworm is a fly larva that eats living flesh, mainly in livestock but that can also spread to wildlife, pets and, in rare instances, humans.<\/p>\n

Currently, the U.S. produces 100 million sterile flies a week, which helped eradicate the pest in the country in 1996. Rollins says these flies will be used to eradicate screwworm again, but the country needs between 400 million and 500 million flies a week.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to have enough sterile flies deployed and out into Texas and wherever else this happens to be before the summer season pops up,\u201d Rollins said in a press conference.<\/p>\n

Rollins said a new facility in Mexico that can produce sterile flies will be operational by the end of the month.<\/p>\n

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Rollins also continues to blame the Biden administration, without evidence, for the arrival of the screwworm, claiming open border policies and the illicit movement of cattle contributed to the spread inside the United States. The Biden administration implemented port closures for livestock in 2024 to prevent the spread of the parasite. After the beginning of Trump\u2019s second term, the ports were reopened and closed<\/u><\/span> multiple times.<\/p>\n

Rollins said models projected the flies would reach the U.S. by last summer. \u201cWe bought ourselves an additional year to prepare for this moment,\u201d Rollins said Monday.<\/p>\n

The parasite has been moving north through Central America and Mexico for several years with recent cases detected near the U.S.-Mexico border. The USDA confirmed a case in Coahuila, Mexico, about 25 miles south of the Texas border, on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, a Republican, has criticized the Trump administration and the USDA, arguing the response has not been strong enough. The Trump administration shut down animal disease-tracking programs<\/u><\/span> under the U.S. Agency for International Development, including screwworm tracking, in March 2025.<\/p>\n

Miller has raised concerns about farmers not self-reporting because they\u2019re concerned their animals will be quarantined, which Rollins, when asked, called \u201can unserious comment\u201d from an \u201cunserious commissioner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more AI Anxiety Could Bring Back Oklahoma\u2019s Legislature<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

USDA confirms a new case in New Mexico, though cautions that it\u2019s isolated from the parasite\u2019s cluster hundreds of miles away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-news"],"yoast_head":"\nNew World Screwworm Spreads Beyond Texas - 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=275\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New World Screwworm Spreads Beyond Texas - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"USDA confirms a new case in New Mexico, though cautions that it\u2019s isolated from the parasite\u2019s cluster hundreds of miles away.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=275\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-08T21:40:39+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=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=275#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=275\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"New World Screwworm Spreads Beyond Texas\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-08T21:40:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=275\"},\"wordCount\":478,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=275#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/9cde0e82dd886c0103f2845fb3a8acac-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"U.S. News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=275#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=275\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=275\",\"name\":\"New World Screwworm Spreads Beyond Texas - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=275#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=275#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/9cde0e82dd886c0103f2845fb3a8acac-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-08T21:40:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=275#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=275\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=275#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/9cde0e82dd886c0103f2845fb3a8acac-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/9cde0e82dd886c0103f2845fb3a8acac-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1920,\"caption\":\"FILE - An adult New World screwworm fly sits in this undated photo. 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