LA FERIA, Texas - Now that the first case of the so-called New Word screwworm has been confirmed, health and agriculture officials are saying to be on the alert.
The case was reported in Zavala County, which is more than four hours away from the Rio Grande Valley.
The detection wasn’t expected to happen so far from the Valley as the first case of the parasitic worm was found in September about 70 miles from the Texas and Nuevo Leon, Mexico, border.
However, it was only a matter of time for that to take place in Texas as the flies that lay the worm eggs have been traveling from Central America and Mexico for about a year.
For that reason, health and agriculture officials have been having a series of livestock management workshops to inform ranchers and farm animal owners.
Two such meetings were held in Raymondville in Willacy County within the last year.
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Services has been spearheading the meetings with the participation of the Texas Farm Bureau, the Texas Animal Health Commission as well as others.
The next meeting is scheduled to be held at 9 a.m. June, 18, in La Feria Co-Op Gin at 14416 U.S. Highway 281 west of Harlingen.
One topic of the workshop is “Preparing for the New World screwworm.”
Rolando Zamora, an extension agent with AgriLife in Raymondville, said now is the time to be more vigilant about the parasitic worm.
“We are telling producers to keep a watchful eye,” he said. “We are telling them to look and monitor your animals - cattle, horses, goats.”
Zamora said they should pay special attention to newborn animals as they are susceptible to the fly as their navels are exposed after birth.
At the recent meeting held earlier this year, Eli Benavidez, a TAHC inspector, gave a report on the cases of the screwworm in Mexico.
As of April 22 of this year, there were 21,517 accumulative cases in Mexico, according to SENASICA, a government agency within Mexico’s Department of Agriculture. The number has risen to more than 27,000 today.
The majority of the April cases – 14,235 – were detected in cattle. Other cases detected ranged from dogs to cats to fowl to rabbits and even 224 cases in humans.
There were also seven wildlife cases – another major concern due to the population of more than 5 million white-tailed deer and thousands of exotic animals in the state.
The King and El Sauz ranches in Kenedy and Willacy counties have an abundancy of wildlife.
After the first case of the screwworm in Texas was confirmed, the news spread like wildlife and that led to some confusion as to where the case originated.
Zamora said people should be careful not to jump to conclusions.
“This is a day to day process,” he said. “We are here to educate the people and we have been doing a job in Willacy County.”
On Thursday, Brooke Rollins, the U.S Agriculture Secretary, said they are taking immediate actions to contain and eradicate the screwworm in South Texas.
“We established a 20 kilometer infected zone,” she said. “We are implementing additional surveillance and management steps.”
Rollins spoke of a $750 million facility being built in Edinburg to combat the fly.
Phillip Kaufman, a professor and head of the entomology department at Texas A&M University, said earlier that the screwworm is a parasite that could cause major economic damages.
Using inflation numbers, he estimated the economic losses at $2 billion to more than $10 billion.
Texas Farm Bureau President Russell Boening issued a statement following confirmation the parasitic pest had been detected in a three-week-old calf near La Pryor in Zavala County.
“The confirmed detection of New World screwworm in Texas marks a new chapter for our state. Texas livestock producers and all Texans must now be vigilant in their efforts to manage and combat the invasive pest,” Boening said.
“Texas Farm Bureau is confident in the federal and state protocols established to again eradicate New World screwworm from Texas as was accomplished decades ago. It is important for consumers to know there are no impacts to food safety from the presence of New World screwworm.”
Boening said TFB appreciates USDA’s efforts and its steadfast commitment to combating the invasive pest. He listed three of USDA’s initiatives.
USDA and its partners are working to prevent New World screwworm from re-establishing in the United States through several efforts, including:
The sterile insect technique involves releasing sterile male screwworm flies into affected areas. When wild females mate with sterile males, no viable offspring are produced, helping reduce and eventually eliminate screwworm populations.
For more information about the La Feria meeting, call 956-361-8236.
Editor's Note: Veteran broadcaster Ron Whitlock, of Ron Whitlock Reports, assisted with this story from Harlingen, Texas.
