Overview
- Federal and state officials confirmed the first recent U.S. detection on June 3 and reported nine infected animals by June 12 in Texas and New Mexico, including cattle, goats and one dog.
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture has deployed millions of laboratory‑raised sterile male flies and is building more production capacity to collapse wild screwworm populations using the proven sterile insect technique.
- The Food and Drug Administration issued emergency authorizations for more than 10 animal products and on June 11 cleared over‑the‑counter nitenpyram tablets for dogs and cats, which kill most larvae quickly but do not prevent reinfestation.
- States and local governments have set quarantine zones, declared local disasters, and imposed movement and import restrictions such as Florida’s ban on rescue animal imports from affected states to limit spread.
- Historically eradicated from the U.S. in 1966 by sterile‑fly releases, the screwworm now moving north from Panama poses a major livestock threat and could cause economic losses, so officials are prioritizing surveillance, wound care by veterinarians, and sustained sterile‑fly campaigns.