The U.S. will run much the same playbook as it did starting in the 1950s: mass-produce sterile male screwworms and release them into the wild to stop the pests from reproducing.
USDA detected New World screwworm in Texas cattle June 2026, first U.S. case since 1982. Government investing $750M in sterile-fly facility (operational late 2027); uncontained outbreak could cost Texas $1.8B annually—restart of decadeslong eradication battle.
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June 7, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT
By Evan Bush
The United States spent more than half a century and hundreds of millions of dollars driving the flesh-eating New World screwworm as far from its borders as possible. Now, it’s back.
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Releasing sterilized flies can crash a local population of flesh-eating screwworms. But the US currently has limited capacity to…
The return of the New World screwworm is about more than a parasite. It is a warning. America has always been strongest when we…
As New World screwworm enters the U.S. for the first time in decades, we should be vigilant but not panic, experts told USA TODAY.
When the US Department of Agriculture reported last week that it detected a case of New World screwworm in a Texas calf,…
The parasitic fly has resurged throughout the Americas since 2023.
The U.S. confirmed its first human diagnosis of the flesh-eating bacteria screwworm since 1982 after its known eradication nearly…
