New USDA Sterile Fly Facility Will Combat Screwworm

By Ryan Hanrahan

Reuters’ Leah Douglas reported that “U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced plans on Wednesday to open a sterile fly dispersal facility in Hidalgo County, Texas, as part of the country’s effort to fight the encroachment of New World screwworm.”

“The pest, a species of fly that has been eradicated in the U.S. for decades, has been moving northward in Mexico, leading the USDA to close the nation’s southern border to cattle imports in May,” Douglas reported. “The Department of Agriculture is also planning to design a sterile fly production facility at Moore Air Base, co-located with the dispersal facility, but that is likely to take two to three years, Rollins said at a press conference at the air base.”

“Rollins also said the USDA is working with state animal health officials to create emergency plans and to stockpile therapeutics in the case of the screwworm crossing into the country. Mexico has also taken efforts to limit the spread of the pest, which can infest livestock and kill within weeks,” Rollins said. “Rollins said she and her team are working closely with the Mexican government and that USDA staff have been working in Mexico on a collaborative response.”