Unlike most other maggots, these maggots attack and consume healthy living tissue along with decaying tissue (hominivorax literally translates to "man-eating")
The "primary" screwworm, which can pierce skin, causes most livestock damage and is the focus of the eradication effort. Versus
The secondary screwworm, C. macellaria, is a flesh-eating fly whose larvae consume only necrotic tissue, either that of carrion or of an animal or human host (myiasis). This important distinction between C. macellaria and C. hominivorax was not understood for much of medical history; myiasis of humans and animals was viewed as universally disastrous. However, as medical understanding of the process of tissue breakdown and infection progressed, it was observed that wounds with specific types of maggot infestation actually had a decreased severity and duration of infection. This progressed to the point where C. macellaria larvae were being applied in some cases as surgical maggots. However, the negative connotation surrounding the word “screwworm” has persisted, and the largely harmless secondary screwworms are often blamed for myiasitic attacks for which primary screwworms are actually responsible.
As often, success of an eradication program depends on staying the course.
It's unsurprising to see the current administration blame the problem on the Biden administration. We don't know why screwworm made a resurgence. But scientists have suggested that supply chain disruptions in producing sterile flies during COVID are to blame.
"The exact cause of this breach is unclear but is most likely due to multiple factors, including interruptions in sterile fly production due to the COVID-19 pandemic and illegal cattle imports, as well as the challenges involved in surveillance of the (Darien) gap’s difficult geography."
There's currently only one plant in Panama running the sterile fly program, but both Mexico and the US are opening new plants to handle the issue.
"The U.S. Department of Agriculture is constructing a new $750 million facility nearby to breed sterile flies, though U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said it won’t be completed until late 2027. In the meantime, the agency is investing $21 million to transform a fruit fly breeding center in far southern Mexico into a screwworm fly production site, with operations set to begin this summer."
It's not impossible some government screwed up veterinary border checks at some point, but in all honesty unless someone finds direct proof I'm treating this as grade A bullsh*t.
(And if it got screwed up, I'd say it's much more likely to have been an accidental result of misguided austerity measures like DOGE.)
> The Department of Government Efficiency cut approximately 15,000 USDA jobs and terminated thousands of USAID programs, including a screwworm monitoring project.
What? Texas Tribune is excellent; it’s a nonprofit here that does investigative journalism. Are you upset they’re quoting the current administration? I can’t help you there, that’s the times we live in.
It's an accurate statement, not propaganda. When the borders were open people smuggled in livestock. With border agents overwhelmed by human traffic, agricultural inspections plummeted. In 2022, CBP admitted inspecting less than 1% of vehicles for pests. That's down from 20% in the prior term. There were case clusters at ports of entry. Outbreaks are concentrated near El Paso, Laredo, and McAllen-prime smuggling routes for Mexican cattle and animal products contaminated with screwworms. That admin also ignored USDA warnings and refused to require proof of livestock treatment for screwworms.
There’s not an objective measure of whether something is racist or not because there are several different, politically charged definitions of racism that all apply to each other.
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