Cattle Industry Concerned Over Screwworm Reporting Delay

Sep 03, 2025

By Ryan Hanrahan

Reuters’ Tom Polansek and Leah Douglas reported that “the patient with the first human infestation of travel-associated New World screwworm in the United States has recovered from the flesh-eating parasite, and there was no sign of transmission to other people or animals, the Maryland Department of Health said on Monday.”

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the human case as screwworm on August 4 in a person who returned from travel to El Salvador, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,” Polansek and Douglas reported. “The agency announced the case on Sunday after Reuters reported earlier in the day on emails from beef industry officials on a CDC-confirmed case in a person in Maryland who had traveled to the United States from Guatemala.”

“The nearly three-week delay between the confirmation of the case on August 4 and the U.S. government’s disclosure erodes trust that public agencies need to identify and fight potential screwworm outbreaks, said Neal Wilkins, CEO of conservation and cattle group East Foundation,” Douglas and Polansek reported. “‘It will cause many producers and land owners, wildlife managers, to simply begin to believe that they’re not being fed the whole story,’ he said. ‘It’s irresponsible and tone deaf for them to have done this.’

Source : illinois.edu

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