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Latest New World screwworm detection in Mexico prompts USDA to reinforce surveillance and prevention efforts

The USDA says it is working around the clock to keep New World screwworm out of the United States.

New World screwworm, the parasitic fly that eats the flesh of warm-blooded animals, was recently detected in a goat, about 25 miles south of the U.S. border in the Mexican state of Coahuila. Rear Admiral Michael Schmoyer, the associate administrator for the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, told reporters in a call on Tuesday, “The most important point is that New World Screwworm is not in the United States.”

Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins says the USDA is fully prepared to implement its action plan should the pest be detected in the U.S. “USDA and relevant animal health officials will immediately put in place quarantines and movement restrictions to limit the pest’s spread,” she says. “We will initiate additional trapping and surveillance in the immediate area. We will release sterile New World screwworm flies in the area to eliminate any reproducing New World screwworm populations.” 

Sterile flies remain the most effective tool to combat the pest, but there is currently only one production facility, which is located in Panama.   

Stephen Diebel a cow/calf operator from Texas and president of the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association tells Brownfield a converted fruit fly facility in Metapa, Mexico is expected to start production of sterile flies later this summer and it can’t come soon enough. “An additional 60 to 80 million flies is going to be super valuable and super important as we wait for the Mission Facility to come on in late 2027 and into 2028.” 

AUDIO: Stephen Diebel, Texas & Southwest Cattle Raisers Association

The USDA says it is ramping up its external communications following a false claim early this week that screwworm had been detected within 1 mile of the U.S. border. 

USDA says it will begin hosting news conferences every-other-day to provide NWS status updates. 

The next update is scheduled on Thursday.