New world screwworm flies to be bred in millions and dropped from planes across US for this key reason

To combat an outbreak of flesh-eating New World screwworm flies in the US, the country is taking the threat to livestock seriously with plans to drop hundreds of millions of sterilised flies from planes.

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New World screwworms are a type of fly whose larvae (around 200 to 300 eggs), burrow into the flesh of warm-blooded animals and slowly eat them alive in what the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service describes as a "devastating pest" that can cause "deadly damage" to the animal.

Treatment-wise, there are no vaccinations at present, so farmers and ranchers have to give their cattle an antiseptic cleaning treatment and cover their wounds; if left untreated, it can kill the animal in around a week or two and spread to others.

The most recent outbreak - the first in two decades - occurred across Central America in 2023, where countries such as Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador have seen a rise in infestations with more than 35,000 reported, as per the Panama–United States Commission for the Eradication and Prevention of Screwworm Infestation in Livestock (COPEG) website.

  The New World screwwormiStockphoto by Getty Images

Concerns from US agricultural industry officials have grown as the fly has been travelling closer to the US, with it reaching southern Mexico in November.

As a result, a number of border-area cattle, horse and bison trading ports have been closed.

The US has battled a New World screwworm infestation before, back in the 1960s and 1970s and through breeding sterilised males of the species to mate with wild female flies, which stopped the flies from laying more eggs and ultimately eliminated the problem, CNN reported.

Since this problem has returned, it is hoped that this same technique will help to eradicate the flies once more.

Currently, there is only one facility in Panama that breeds sterilised New World screwworm to tackle the infestations (100 million produced and dispersed per week), and so 80 US lawmakers noted in a letter on June 17 that more sterilised flies are needed to truly solve this issue.

Plans to open an $8.5 million sterile New World screwworm (NWS) fly dispersal facility were announced the next day by the US Department of Agriculture, located at the Moore Air Base in Hidalgo County, Texas.

“The United States has defeated NWS before and we will do it again,” said Secretary Rollins in a statement.

“We do not take lightly the threat NWS poses to our livestock industry, our economy, and our food supply chain. The United States government will use all resources at its disposal to push back NWS, and today’s announcement of a domestic strategy to bolster our border defenses is just the beginning. We have the proven tools, strong domestic and international partnerships, and the grit needed to win this battle.”

Elsewhere, Staggering number of ants on Earth is 20 times higher than we thought, and Woman captures moment she learnt a spider was living in her ear.

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