Overview
- Confirmed screwworm cases have appeared in Texas and New Mexico but remain geographically limited in the United States, and Texas officials say containment has kept active U.S. cases low with fewer than six active cases reported in early August.
- State and federal teams have reinstated classic control measures including infested zones, animal movement restrictions, increased trapping and mass release of sterile males under the sterile insect technique (SIT) to stop the fly’s breeding cycle.
- A UC San Diego and San Diego County dashboard now available to public-health partners combines lab detections, environmental suitability models and media reports to give county-level early warning of likely risk areas.
- The USDA has reintroduced SIT at scale and is field-testing a genetically modified all-male screwworm strain while seeking EPA review, and researchers are developing complementary genetic methods to improve mass rearing and male-only releases.
- Researchers point to the 1950s eradication as a model but warn faster northward spread and large outbreaks in Mexico create high stakes for livestock, so new surveillance and next-generation tools such as NovoFly, SEPARATOR, CRISPR approaches and pgSIT are being advanced to expand options if the threat grows.