Flesh-eating screwworm detected 25 miles from U.S. border, USDA says

A flesh-eating New World screwworm was recently found in Mexico, just 25 miles from the United States border, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The encounter was the closest to US soil since at least last September, federal data shows.

The screwworm was found Thursday in a 5-year-old goat in Mexico’s Coahuila state, which shares a border with southwestern Texas. According to the USDA, U.S. officials have tracked 32 cases of the parasitic fly throughout the Mexican state, including 19 active cases.

Overall, at least 26,216 screwworm cases have been identified across Mexico, and more than 2,700 are active, the USDA said. The department shares updates twice a week on any new cases found within 400 miles of the U.S. in Mexico, and it prominently notes on a webpage dedicated to New World screwworm that the insect is “not currently known to exist” and “the current risk to livestock, other animals, and people in the United States is very low.”

But in recent months and years, the parasite has appeared closer to the US than ever before. In April, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller announced that it had been found in Mexico at a location that was 60 miles from the U.S. border, CBS Texas reported at the time. Texas officials warn outdoor enthusiasts about parasites from the end of 2024That’s when the state Parks and Wildlife Department issued an advisory saying screwworms were recently found in a cow in southern Mexico.

Last year, the first case of New World screwworm infection in a human was reported confirmed in usaThe Department of Health and Human Services announced at the time. HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon told CBS News in a statement that the case was discovered in a traveler who returned to Maryland from El Salvador. Maryland health officials said later The person recovered, and investigators found no evidence of transmission to other people or animals.

The New World screwworm is a parasitic fly that feeds on warm-blooded animals and people. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it lays its eggs in open wounds or openings such as the eyes, ears, nose or mouth, which may eat living tissue or flesh after the eggs hatch. Screwworm is typically found in parts of South America and the Caribbean, but in the past three years it has been found farther north in Central America and Mexico, the CDC said.

Edited by Melissa Gaffney

The Associated Press and Sarah Lynch Baldwin contributed to this report.

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