WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has responded to news that the New World screwworm has reached Texas.
She said she has sent a strike team to the South Texas border to assist.
The parasitic fly could put Texas’ $15 billion cattle industry in jeopardy.
The USDA tested a sample from La Pryor in Zavala County at the USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, lowa. It was at the laboratory that the infestation of a three-week old calf, was confirmed, Rollins said during a press conference about the case.
No other cases have been confirmed thus far.
USDA points out that New World screwworm is a devastating pest.
“It can cause serious, often deadly damage to animals and people in areas where the pest spreads. While NWS is present in parts of South America—where infections in animals and people continue to occur—it was eradicated from the United States decades ago. In recent years, NWS has moved northward through Central America and Mexico.,” USDA states.
Rollins gave an update to Texas media outlets on the evening of June 3.
“Today we are taking immediate action. We have already begun to deploy, to contain and eradicate the New World screwworm in South Texas,” Rollins told Texas reporters.
“We have, number one, formed a unified incident command team with the Texas Animal Health Commission and deployed our APS response team and personnel to the area. They're already on the ground. We’ve established a 20 kilometer infested zone around the detection and implemented quarantines, movement controls, and surveillance in this area. And we've expedited targeted release of the sterile new world screwworm flies.”
Here is an audio recording of Secretary Rollins' remarks to Texas media outlets:
