A perilous flesh-eating parasite is making a beeline for the United States, undeterred by numerous attempts to halt its progress. And, in an ironic twist, one could attribute part of this impending crisis to the activities of Mexican drug cartels.
As reported by The Atlantic , the U.S. has been engaged in a protracted aerial battle against the New World screwworm for the past 70 years. This gruesome parasite feasts on the living flesh of various animals—including cows, pigs, deer, dogs, and, yes, even humans.
The larvae of this parasitic fly burrow into flesh, turning minor wounds into grotesque, gaping sores. To add insult to injury, they emit a noxious odor reminiscent of a sewer.
Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the scientific designation of the worm, C. hominivorax, translates to “man-eater.”
Back in the 1950s, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) launched a full-scale offensive to eradicate the screwworm.
According to The Atlantic, here’s how they tackled this menace:
USDA workers bred screwworms, subjected them to radiation to render them sterile, and then released millions—yes, hundreds of millions—of these sterile flies into the wild, first across the U.S., then further south into Mexico, and ultimately throughout the rest of North America.
While the screwworm was successfully eradicated from North and Central America in the late 20th century, the tide has now turned ominously.
The latest outbreak began in Panama, escalating from a handful of cases per year to around 1,000, despite ongoing efforts to drop sterile flies. As The Atlantic outlines, the parasite began its northward migration, initially at a slow pace but accelerating significantly by 2024.
As of this month, the parasite has traversed 1,600 miles through eight countries, reaching the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Veracruz—now perilously close to the Texas border, just 700 miles away.
Mark Eisele, a rancher from Cheyenne and former president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, suggests that the Mexican drug cartels play a role in this crisis.
“We could have maintained a consistent flow of those planes. However, the cartels began extorting $35,000 for every flight transporting sterile flies from Panama,” he stated. “This situation serves as a stark political reminder that they must get their act together.”
In response, the USDA has taken the drastic step of indefinitely halting all animal imports from or transiting through Mexico.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins addressed the invasion in a recent statement.
“The investment I am announcing today is just one of many initiatives my team is tirelessly working on to safeguard our livestock, our agricultural economy, and the integrity of our national food supply,” Rollins declared.
The Cowboy State Daily reports that the U.S. imports approximately 1.3 million cattle from Mexico each year. Should the import borders remain closed, we can expect beef prices to soar, though many argue this is a small price to pay to prevent the screwworm from breaching U.S. soil.
However, a growing number of ranchers fear it may already be too late. The Atlantic interviewed Wayne Cockrell, a rancher in Texas, who believes that the screwworm’s reappearance in Texas is inevitable.
He expressed concern that the current anti-screwworm program lacks the capacity to produce enough sterile flies to effectively curb the parasite’s advance, let alone eradicate it back to Panama.
“There’s a sense of dread on my part now,” he lamented.
Should his fears materialize, the repercussions on the beef, pork, and poultry industries could be catastrophic. Additionally, recreational hunting may face severe restrictions.
Let’s not forget the grim possibility of Americans ending up in emergency rooms with horrific, festering wounds that one can hardly begin to fathom.
