The New World Screwworm (NWS) – a parasitic fly that eats the flesh of livestock and other warm-blooded animals – has arrived in South Texas.The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed on June 3 that NWS larvae had been identified in a three-week-old calf’s umbilical area in Zavala County, Texas.As of June 11, federal officials had confirmed six total cases, Fox7 Austin reported.According to the USDA, "NWS is a serious pest that affects livestock, pets, wildlife, and less commonly, people and birds.
NWS larvae (maggots) burrow into the flesh of living animals, causing serious damage to livestock and economic losses."CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE STORIESScrewworms don’t make meat unsafe to eat, but they do threaten to raise beef prices that are already at a record high.The USDA is led by U.S.Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins.
On May 11, 2025, she announced "the suspension of live cattle, horse and bison imports through U.S.ports of entry along the southern border due to the continued and rapid northward spread of NWS in Mexico."U.S.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, right, and Texas Gov.Greg Abbott, front left, hold a news conference with ranchers, researchers and officials at the Knipling-Bushland U.S.
Livestock Insects Research Laboratory in Kerrville, Texas, Monday, June 8, 2026.(Eric Gay/AP)Models projected the NWS would enter the U.S.
in 2025, "but thanks to the hard work across the entire Trump administration and our industry, state and local partners, we were able to buy time for this moment," said Dudley Hoskins, USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs."USDA invested heavily in the tools needed to eliminate NWS ever since cases started increasing in Central America and Mexico," Hoskins said."The United States has defeated this pest before, and we will do it again."The USDA announced that "an APHIS strike team is already on-site in Texas." The agency ...