The U.S. will lean on the same playbook it did starting in the late 1950s, part of which involves releasing sterile insects to suppress the pest's population.

Releasing sterilized flies can crash a local population of flesh-eating screwworms. But the US currently has limited capacity to produce them.

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.