News

Industry leaders evaluate mitigation strategies if NWS would be detected in the U.S.

The livestock industry continues to evaluate all available options if New World screwworm would be detected in the United States.

Dr. M. Wayne Ayers is a technical consultant veterinarian with Elanco Animal Health.

“The US and Mexico have partnered to build a new facility or remodel an existing facility in Mexico,” he says. “They should be ramped up to producing sterile males by the middle of the summer, but there is this gap where we’re kind of worried we can’t produce enough of these sterile males.”

He tells Brownfield producers should focus on prevention, not just treatment.

“When I put an ear tag in, that’s a potential site for the female to find it and lay an egg, so I should spray that,” he says. “Maybe we go to ban castration at birth rather than doing open castrations at branding or turn out every new bar needs to be treated.”

Ayers says it’s important to continue to educate the industry about the pest and current treatment options.

NWS has not been detected in the United States.

The two most recent detections of New World screwworm in Mexico were in Nuevo Leon, about 390 miles from the Texas border (October 11th), and another about 170 miles from the Texas border (October 6th).