Free Republic

Avian Flu Wiped Out Poultry. Now the Screwworm Is Coming for Beef.First came bird flu, which led to the culling of large swaths of the nation’s poultry flocks and the soaring egg prices that helped undermine President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s re-election. Now, ranchers in Texas and officials at the Agriculture Department are raising the next alarm: the New World screwworm. Texas livestock producers and ranchers fear the United States is ill-equipped to handle a potential outbreak of screwworm, whose incursion into the country appears increasingly likely. With beef prices already soaring, the screwworm, whose Latin name roughly translates to...

A dangerous flesh-eating parasite is rapidly marching toward the United States despite several desperate efforts to halt its advance. And one can thank the Mexican drug cartels for this. As The Atlantic notes, the United States has been fighting an aerial war against the New World screwworm for 70 years. This parasite eats animals alive, including cows, pigs, deer, dogs, and even humans. The larvae of the parasitic fly harboring the worm rip through flesh and transform small pricks into huge, revolting wounds. Worse, they produce foul-smelling odors resembling sewer gas. It’s no wonder the worm’s scientific name, C. hominivorax,...

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins took bold action to protect America’s food supply and ranching industry from an imminent biological threat. Effective immediately, all live cattle, horse, and bison imports through U.S. southern border ports of entry have been suspended in response to the reemergence of the New World Screwworm. The New World Screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivorax) is a parasitic fly whose larvae (maggots) are flesh-eating parasites that infest warm-blooded animals, including cattle, wildlife, pets, and humans. It is considered one of the most destructive parasites known to livestock. According to the CDC:

A terrifying flesh-eating parasite that eats animals from the inside out is pouring across the US border from cattle imported from Mexico. The parasite, commonly called a New World screwworm, was eliminated in North America in the late 19th century, but has made a return as cattle from Panama are being smuggled into the nation.