A major threat to livestock, pets, and wildlife has appeared in Texas for the first time in 60 years.
In a Wednesday news release, the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed a case of New World screwworm (NWS) in a 3-week-old calf in Zavala County, Texas.
“NWS larvae (maggots) burrow into the flesh of living animals, causing serious damage to livestock and economic losses,” according to the USDA.
Dudley Hoskins, USDA under secretary for marketing and regulatory programs, said the agency anticipated this development. He also praised inter-agency cooperation across President Donald Trump’s entire administration, as well as among state and local officials.
“All models showed New World Screwworm entering the country in 2025; however, thanks to the hard work across the entire Trump administration and our industry, state, and local partners, we were able to buy time for this moment. Protecting our livestock industry is a national security issue of the utmost importance, and USDA is wasting no time in taking action,” Hoskins said.
Indeed, the USDA’s “action” has already taken several forms.
In recent months, for instance, the agency has issued Emergency Use Authorizations for multiple NWS treatments. The agency approved a topical powder in April and then an over-the-counter injectable drug in May. These treatments are applied to a variety of mammals, including cattle.
Furthermore, according to CNBC, the USDA has also begun releasing sterile male flies into the affected area. The production of new sterile male flies continues at facilities in Texas.
This technique, which eradicated the parasite in the past, works because female flies usually only mate once. Then, they lay their eggs in an animal’s open wounds or other bodily openings. After the eggs hatch, the maggots feed on the animal’s flesh. A sterile male, of course, ensures that no such eggs appear.
“USDA invested heavily in the tools needed to eliminate NWS ever since cases started increasing in Central America and Mexico,” Hoskins added in Wednesday’s news release. “The United States has defeated this pest before, and we will do it again.”
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, however, painted a less rosy picture of USDA’s performance thus far.
“For months, the screwworm has advanced rapidly through Mexico in spite of the USDA’s existing game plan,” Miller said Wednesday per CNBC, adding that “instead of using every available tool, USDA moved too slowly and relied solely on a partial solution that takes years to fully implement.”
Meanwhile, in its news release, USDA characterized the U.S. food supply as “safe.”
“Screwworms do not infest meat, fruits, vegetables, or other food sources,” the agency wrote. “USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service … ensures that the nation’s commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products is safe and properly labeled.”
That means that “evidence of screwworm infestation in an animal would be identified during these inspections, and any contaminated product from an affected animal would not be allowed to enter the food supply.”
The agency also described NWS infestations in people as “rare.”
Nonetheless, any parasitic outbreak among livestock threatens to exacerbate already-soaring beef costs.
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said that the confirmed NWS case is the first in Texas since 1966, per CNBC.
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