There is growing awareness of the threat New World screw-worm can pose to our nation’s livestock, particularly beef cattle, as this invasive pest, once decades removed from our country, travels closer to the U.S.-Mexican border.
“This one’s particularly problematic because the maggot will infest living tissues and consume those on a living animal. It’ll get into, say, the umbilicus of a newborn calf, onto a cut, onto, say, a dehorning wound. Those types of things are some of the primary places that we might see this, and it will kind of continue to make those wounds worse and continue to eat tissue if it’s left untreated.”
Agriculture Deputy Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Lauren Stump says only those who dealt with NWS at its height in our country several decades ago might know what to look out for or understand the potential impacts. Hence, the importance of education and vigilance in what to watch for regarding a possible New World screw-worm case,
“Especially for those who are living around the border, which would be more of a high-risk area, any animal that’s going to have more proximity to wildlife or to livestock—or an animal, of course, that is livestock—is going to be at higher risk.”
It is not just livestock, though, at risk for a potential case of NWS.
“For pets, those are probably a little bit easier to check, but make sure, especially in the long-haired ones or really furry ones, to be checking for any wounds.”
The NWS maggot is shaped like a screw and screws down as it consumes tissue. But the deputy undersecretary says there is another way this pest can potentially be detected.
“Screw-worm also has reportedly a very particular smell. I’ve actually been around it and seen it in real life myself, and it does have a very sort of particularly noxious smell. So any kind of foul-smelling wounds, of course, you would want to check out for any number of reasons, but look at those for any signs of myiasis.”
If myiasis, infestation by fly larvae, is suspected,
“I think the best-case scenario is not to try to determine whether it is screw-worm or if it is something else yourself, but to report that to either your state animal health official or, if you so wish, you can call USDA directly. But I think the state animal health official would be more than happy to take that call and to look into it for you.”
Contact information for USDA area veterinarians is also available by going online to www.aphis.usda.gov, scrolling down the home page to the New World screw-worm link. The following page contains a link on how to contact an accredited veterinarian in your area.