The screwworm—which devours warm-blooded animals alive and could cause economic losses amounting to millions of dollars—has been detected in Mexico less than 40 kilometers from the U.S. border, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture reported this Tuesday.
The detection of the parasite in a five-year-old goat in the state of Coahuila further heightens the threat to the U.S. meat industry and ranchers, who have been monitoring the worm’s northward advance through Mexico for over a year.
This marks the closest confirmed case to the U.S. border during the most recent outbreak, Secretary Brooke Rollins explained to reporters during a conference call.
“There is no doubt that this is a very, very serious threat to our livestock,” she stated.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported on Friday that the screwworm had been detected in a young sheep in Mexico, less than 50 kilometers from the shared border, which spans over 3,000 kilometers.
The worm feeds on the flesh of living animals—potentially killing its hosts if left untreated—and could cause damages totaling $1.8 billion to the Texas economy alone; furthermore, experts say it would likely drive up beef prices in the United States by reducing the domestic supply of cattle.
Source: eleconomista
