U.S. Agriculture Secretary set to visit Kerrville lab Monday

The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed Monday two additional cases of New World Screwworm in Texas.  The cases involve a calf in La Salle County and a dog in Andrews County.  The USDA said epidemiological investigations are ongoing for both cases.

New World Screwworm is a pest that threatens livestock, pets, wildlife, and in rare cases, people, according to the USDA.  The larvae burrow into living tissue of animals, causing wounds, animal suffering and economic losses.

The USDA confirmed a second case of the Screwworm parasite in Texas on Friday.  That detection was located about 5.6 miles from where the first case in decades was reported last week.

On Monday, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins will visit the U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory in Kerrville to meet scientists and discuss eradication efforts before holding a news conference at 2 p.m.  Rollins is expected to announce a federal plan to combat the spread of New World Screwworm.

Following the initial detection, Rollins sought to reassure consumers, saying the nation’s food supply remains safe while federal and state agencies work to contain the outbreak.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster on Friday over the “imminent threat” the outbreak posed.  “This is likely to spread over the course of the summer,” Abbott told reporters on Friday.

Canada’s food inspection agency has announced a temporary ban on livestock from Texas after flesh-eating screwworms were discovered in calves last week.  Cows and horses that were in Texas anytime within 21 days before crossing the border into Canada would not be accepted into the country, according to a release.

With this most recent outbreak, U.S. agriculture and health officials have outlined a plan to release hundreds of millions of genetically altered sterile flies to try to halt the population growth, along with using sniffer dogs to identify the parasite in cattle.

In the U.S., the parasite was considered eradicated in 1966, but there have been cases since, including an outbreak in the 1970’s.