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Screwworm Cluster in Texas Is Largest Since Initial Find
4 Cases on Terrell County Property Include 3 Cattle, 1 Goat; Parts of More Than a Dozen Texas Counties Are Quarantined
Key Takeaways:
- Four New World screwworm cases were confirmed on one Terrell County, Texas, property, the largest U.S. cluster reported since detections began this month.
- The U.S. total reached 20 cases, threatening Texas cattle as the national herd has already shrunk, though officials say food safety is unaffected.
- Officials said epidemiological investigations and tracebacks are underway, with quarantines currently covering parts of more than a dozen Texas counties.
Four cases of the New World screwworm have been confirmed on the same Texas property, marking the largest cluster of detections to be reported since the parasite was found in the U.S. earlier this month.
Three cattle and one goat were detected to have screwworm in Terrell County, which is adjacent to Mexico, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. All were from a single premises, the Texas Animal Health Commission said in a June 24 email.
Another bovine case surfaced late June 24 in Medina County, according to the USDA. That brings the total number in the U.S. to 20 since early June when the screwworm was originally detected in a calf in Zavala County, Texas. The outbreak is the first in the U.S. in a decade and the first in livestock in about 50 years, threatening the nation’s largest cattle state at a time when the country’s herd has already shrunk.
The screwworm is a fly whose larvae burrow into the wounds of warm-blooded animals, and it usually spreads via the movement of infested animals. Infestations are treatable but can cause death if undetected. The screwworm poses no threat to the safety of the U.S. food supply.
Epidemiological investigations have not yet been completed on the Terrell County cases, but tracebacks are currently underway to determine how the infestations occurred, the commission said. There is currently a quarantine in parts of more than a dozen Texas counties, according to the commission.
