'The U.S. Beef Supply is Safe': Nebraska Cattlemen President Discusses New World Screwworm Threat

By Theodore Ball

A parasite that hasn't been seen in the United States since the 1960s officially made a return on Wednesday.

Nebraska Cattlemen President Craig Uden previously warned Nebraska producers about the New World Screwworm threat, but now that it's here, his tone has shifted.

The U.S. Department of agriculture confirmed a New World Screwworm detection in a three-week-old calf in Zavala County, Texas, about 60 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.

Uden, who in March warned that response efforts might not be ready before the parasite's inevitable arrival, said coordination between state and federal agencies has improved significantly since then.

"It's been very well prepared for, it has arrived," Uden said. "The U.S. beef supply is safe. This is an infestation, not a disease. So, it can be treated and not have any bearing on the product. We'll still produce very wholesome, safe, high-quality product."

Uden said that outside the established zone in Texas, it's largely business as usual, still putting emphasis on the added vigilance of cattle movement. For Nebraska producers specifically, he said the risk remains low.

"Nebraska producers just need to know where their cattle are coming from and make sure that, if they're bringing cattle in out of a different region, that they look over those cattle really well," Uden said. "There's not a real big concern up there at this time."

He added that Nebraska's cooler weather works in the state's favor.

"When the weather cools down, the cold weather will eliminate the flies," he said. "It's more of a summertime issue if it was going to be."

Dr. Matt Hille, an assistant professor and diagnostic pathologist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Nebraska Veterinary Diagnostic Center, largely agreed with Uden's reassuring message, but he still questioned production of the United States' main defense to the pest.

Sterile flies, when released into the wild, mate with normal flies but produce no offspring — gradually collapsing the population. A Texas facility currently under construction will produce sterile flies at scale, but it is not yet operational. Hille says with no fully functioning facility in the United States, the best the country can do right now is buy producers some time.