(NAFB) Wednesday night, the USDA received official confirmation of the first case of New World Screwworm in Texas. It’s been confirmed in the umbilical cord of an eight-week-old calf in La Pryor, Texas. Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins talked about her agency’s reaction, which is already underway.
“We are taking immediate action this afternoon and evening. It’s already begun to deploy, to contain, and to eradicate this case of the New World Screwworm in South Texas. We have, number one, formed a unified incident command team with the Texas Animal Health Commission and deployed our APHIS response team and personnel to the area. They are already on the ground. We have established a 20-kilometer infested zone around the detection and are implementing quarantines, movement controls, and surveillance in this area. We have expedited the targeted release of the sterile New World Screwworm flies, which is how we solve for the issue, of course, by immediately deploying four million ground release chambers in the area, in addition to the 4 million sterile flies per week already being released aerially in the area.”
Rollins emphasized this is not a food safety issue.
“Top line, this pest does not cause any sort of food safety issue. It is not a disease, but simply an insect that feeds on living tissues. Once removed and cleaned, animals treated early enough, including the calf that we’re talking about, the eight-week-old bovine, that calf and those animals, if they’re treated early enough, will recover and are safe to enter the food supply system.”
She said the New World Screwworm is primarily transmitted through animal movement, which is why producers in the area need to follow all guidelines…tape
“The call to action here, the response to this pest will entail our producers and companion animal owners to follow animal movement guidelines and restrictions, and not move animals near the zone without proper treatment and inspections in place. This fly typically moves great distances because humans move animals, not because the fly flies to new areas. This is a really important point. The only way this spreads is through animal movement. It’s not because the fly flies tens of miles or hundreds of miles on its own. For us to contain this pest in the limited area where it currently exists will entail everyone respecting the common good of all Texas producers and following our protocols and our animal movement restrictions.”
Rollins said this isn’t just a cattle or livestock issue. Pet owners in the southern states need to keep a close eye on their domestic animals too…tape
“This is not just a livestock issue, it is not just a cattle issue, it is a pet issue as well. And in fact, in some of the cases that have been found within 20, 30, and 60 miles of the Mexican border in Mexico, many of those were feline cats and dogs. So, the pet issue is really, really important. We have deployed additional trained USDA dogs down to the border that will be working with all crossings and all pets that are crossing, and we’ll be limiting those pretty significantly now going forward.”
For more information, go to screwworm.gov.
