Oct. 9 (UPI) -- The re-emergence of the New World screwworm in Mexico, more than two decades after eradication, has triggered a health crisis with major economic repercussions.
Faced with the threat to the livestock industry and the suspension of cattle exports to the United States, President Claudia Sheinbaum's government announced large-scale inspections and a livestock conversion program.
The outbreak was first detected in southern Mexico, with Coahuila and Tamaulipas later affected as the pest spread north. This led to the immediate suspension of Mexican cattle exports to the United States, the main destination for more than 1 million head of cattle each year.
The measure, imposed by U.S. animal health authorities, aims to prevent the spread of the pest, whose larvae feed on the living tissue of warm-blooded animals, causing myiasis -- a parasitic infection that invades tissue and, if untreated, can cause complications or death.
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