USDA announces a new Texas facility to push screwworms from U.S.; the insidious larvae threaten the beef industry

Screwworm infestations eat their living host's flesh.
They are painful and can be deadly. (Adobe Stock photo)

In an effort to combat the threat parasitic screwworms pose to U.S. livestock and wildlife near the U.S.-Mexico border, the Department of Agriculture announced it will "spend up to $750 million to build a facility in Texas that produces sterile flies to fight the flesh-eating livestock pest," report Tom Polansek and Leah Douglas of Reuters. The production plant will be built in Edinburg, Texas, at Moore Air Base.

USDA scientists and agricultural partners have been working diligently with Mexican authorities to push the blowfly and its flesh-eating larvae southward; however, the newly announced facility signals that those efforts may not be enough to protect U.S. cattle. Texas ranchers are "anticipating the return of screwworm for the first time in decades," Reuters reports. "The U.S. eliminated screwworm in the 20th century by flying planes over hotspots to drop boxes packed with sterile flies."

The new facility is expected to "produce 300 million sterile screwworm flies per week, according to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins," Polansek and Douglas write. Mass numbers of sterile male blowflies work to create a buffer by out-competing the fertile male flies. Female blowflies only mate once, so when they mate with a sterile male blowfly, no screwworms can be produced.

Rollins previously predicted that "such a facility would take two to three years to build," Reuters reports. During the facility's construction, the "USDA will spend another $100 million on technologies to combat screwworm. . . and hire more mounted officers to patrol the border for infested wildlife. . . The USDA has also invested in a sterile fly production plant in Mexico that is slated to open next year."

Should screwworms return to the U.S., they could devastate the cattle industry. Polansek and Douglas explain, "An outbreak could further elevate record-high U.S. beef prices by reducing the U.S. cattle supply. Rollins told Reuters, "All Americans should be concerned."