Deadly Screwworm Outbreak Locks Down Texas, Puts Iowa on Alert
Federal and state officials have locked down a South Texas area after the first discovery of a flesh-eating screwworm on a U.S. farm in decades. The case, confirmed at the National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa, has put cattle ranchers on high alert and triggered immediate action from the USDA to protect the nation's food supply.
Iowa Officials Stand Ready
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig is keeping a close eye on the situation. As a major cattle producer, Iowa has a lot at stake if this parasite spreads. Naig said his department is closely monitoring the situation in Texas, and our team stands ready to respond as needed to protect Iowa livestock and our farm families' livelihoods.
He also assured Iowans that there is no food safety risk. Consumers should know that properly cooked meat remains safe to eat and enjoy.
Border Security and the Pest's Advance
The New World screwworm has been moving north through Mexico over the past year. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins confirmed that ports of entry will remain closed to Mexican livestock until further notice. The USDA has spent millions trying to keep the pest out, but the fly has breached the border anyway.
The infestation signals that screwworm flies have arrived in the U.S. and will expand in wildlife populations, according to Lee Haines, an associate research professor of biological sciences at the University of Notre Dame. The burden falls hardest on farmers who must monitor animals scattered across vast, open rangeland, often going unobserved for days at a time, Haines said.
Economic Impact on Cattle Country
The U.S. cattle herd is already the smallest it has been in 75 years, driven down by persistent drought and high feeding costs. An outbreak could devastate the industry. Experts estimate Texas could face up to $1.8 billion in economic losses if the screwworm spreads widely.
Traders initially panicked, but feeder cattle futures quickly rallied more than 3% on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Matt Wiegand, a commodity broker for FuturesOne, noted that cattle numbers are still tight until we see a big demand impact from the consumer side.
The Meat Institute, which represents major processors like JBS, Cargill, and Tyson Foods, urged the USDA to allow low-risk shipments for slaughter from uninfested farms. This common-sense adjustment would keep the supply chain moving while maintaining strict safety protocols.
Flooding the Zone to Eradicate the Threat
The USDA and Texas officials have halted animal movement in a 12.4-mile radius around the infected farm in La Pryor, Texas. Sheriff's deputies and state personnel are staffing checkpoints on every major road out of town, inspecting livestock for signs of the parasite.
If we all work together and follow these treatment and movement restriction guidelines, there is no reason to believe that this incursion will result in any sort of establishment of the pest on our side of the border, Rollins told reporters.
The New World screwworm sounds like something from a horror movie, but it's real, said Nate Sheets, a Republican nominee for Texas agriculture commissioner. It is an agricultural emergency.
Screwworms are parasitic flies whose females lay eggs in open wounds and mucous membranes of warm-blooded animals. Once the eggs hatch, hundreds of larvae use their sharp mouths to burrow through living flesh, eventually killing the host if left untreated.
The USDA is fighting back by releasing sterilized male flies from the ground and the sky, a proven method that eradicated the pest in the U.S. back in the 1960s. We are really flooding the zone in this impacted area, said Dudley Hoskins, a USDA undersecretary.
However, a new facility to produce these sterile flies, which broke ground in April, will not come online until late 2027. Until then, ranchers and regulators must remain vigilant to protect American agriculture from this dangerous foreign threat.