A confirmed detection of New World Screwworm was found recently in Zavala County, Texas. In a post on X, Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, said “The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Texas Animal Health officials are taking immediate action to contain and eradicate NWS from the area.”
Secretary Rollins also spoke on the measures currently being implemented to exterminate NWS, “We are taking immediate action. 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 implementing quarantines, movement controls, and surveillance in this area. We have expedited targeted release of the sterile new world screwworm flies, which is how we solve for the issue, by immediately deploying a four million ground release chambers in the area in addition to the four million sterile flies per week already being released aerially in the area. We are increasing trapping and surveillance for new world screwworm flies along the border just outside of the dispersal area,” said Secretary Rollins.
Secretary Rollins also said, “We are implementing new world screwworm surveillance for the new world screwworm flies along the border and just outside of the dispersal area. We are implementing additional surveillance and management strategies in wildlife and conducting targeted outreach in the local area as well as across the state.
Audio Reporting by Dale Sandlin and Elizabeth Sanders for Southeast AgNet.