The deadly screwworm is continuing to spread through the United States, confusing health officials who have put plans in motion to stop it. So far, US cases of screwworm infection are hovering at 35 animals, most of which are clustered in Texas. The parasite is flesh-eating, and sterile-fly projects are in place to control the spread of the New World screwworm.

This parasite could reshape cross-border trade too, said Mexican cattle ranchers.

Mexico’s cattle industry is in a bigger crisis than that of the US. It is facing what Álvaro Bustillos Fuentes calls “the worst storm in the history of our livestock industry,” a convergence of drought, disease and disrupted trade that has cut northern Mexican ranchers off from the US market that shaped them for more than a century.

According to a report by Texas Public Radio (TPR), Bustillos, who is the president of the Chihuahua Regional Cattlemen’s Union (UGRCh), said that this major blow to livestock came after three years of punishing drought, which he described as the worst in 40 years. After that drought came the return of the New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite that had been eradicated from the region decades ago, and the U.S. decision to close the border to live Mexican cattle as the pest moved north from Central America into Mexico.

New World Screwworm Cases Rise to 32

“In more than 120 years of commercializing cattle into the United States, there have only been three closures,” Bustillos Fuentes said. One was during the Mexican Revolution; the second was due to foot-and-mouth disease; and this is the third. “We are leaving about $1,000 per head on the table,” he explained. “That means Chihuahua is leaving $500 million a year in opportunity cost.”

Sterile Fly Facility Opens To Combat Screwworm

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the New World screwworm is a parasitic fly that affects livestock, pets, wildlife, and, less commonly, people and birds. The fly’s larvae feed on the living tissue of warm-blooded animals.

This parasite, should it continue to spread, has the potential to impact the meat supply and the cost of meat, specifically beef.

Is The Screwworm A Problem For The Meat Supply?