The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has confirmed the first human case of the flesh-eating parasite known as the New World screwworm in the United States. The case, linked to a traveler returning from El Salvador, was verified on August 4 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Maryland Department of Health. Federal officials stressed that while the discovery is alarming, the risk to the wider U.S. public remains very low.
The parasite, the larvae of the screwworm fly, poses a severe threat to both livestock and wildlife. Known for burrowing into the flesh of warm-blooded animals, it can decimate cattle populations, devastate ecosystems, and even infect household pets. The United States successfully eradicated screwworm outbreaks in the 1960s using a mass-sterilization program, but recent flare-ups across Central America and Mexico have reignited concerns. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins has announced a new five-part plan, including the aerial release of billions of sterilized flies across southern Texas and Mexico, in a bid to curb the parasite’s spread.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has raised alarm over the potential economic fallout, warning that the state’s $867 billion agriculture industry and its two million jobs could face massive disruption. A USDA report last year projected that a full-scale outbreak in Texas could cost at least $1.8 billion in livestock deaths, treatment expenses, and labor losses. With Mexico recently reporting a case just 370 miles from the Texas border, U.S. authorities are under mounting pressure to accelerate sterilization efforts initially slated to begin in two to three years.