Maggots from screwworm flies burrow into the flesh of living animals, causing serious damage. While it can often be fatal, infected animals can be treated by removing larvae and applying medications, if it is detected early enough.
The infestation, which began in November, has now claimed its first human casualty: an 86-year-old woman with advanced cancer and complications from a screwworm infection who died in the state of Campeche in late July. While infections are rarer (and treatable) in humans, Mexico confirmed more than 30 cases in people in the last week of July.
Estimates cited by Mexican authorities in 2022 and others by sector experts indicate the number of illegal cattle crossing into Mexico is at least 800,000 per year.
I cannot wait for this pandemic
Dear leader of the Department of Pestilence RFK Jr. will ensure every man, woman, and child in this country are able to enjoy the health benefits of screwworm infestation
Goddamn I just had a dream about little worm like things infesting the planet. I don’t need my nightmares to become reality.
Screwworm is a fly larvae, the odds are decent it can’t survive to far north.
But thanks to climate change, that’s changing
Historically, it covered half of the United States.
In the 1900s screw worm routinely ate up into the heartland.
And the 1900s there was an estimated impact of roughly 5 to 10% of cattle destroyed by this.
This continued until the '50s
To build on what another poster said, screw worms were a major problem in the USA for many, many years. They were mostly eradicated from the US in the 1970s by breeding sterile male flies and releasing them by plane. They were mostly cleared from Mexico as well and annual flights releasing sterile male flies have kept them from spreading back up north. Unfortunately, there are now some very large outbreaks in Mexico and some cases in the USA.
There is only one factory, located in Panama, producing sterile males now and its production capabilities are insufficient to fighting these outbreaks. The USDA has announced plans to ramp up production and develop new was to stop them, though.
Climate change compounded with Trump cutting USDA funds and staff. They’re the ones researching and fighting screwworms.
Still, chances are that your immune system is better than an 86 year old cancer patient’s and the screwworm won’t defeat it easily. It might sound cynical but people still die from something. Old age, cancer plus parasite is not directly a tragic unexpected reason to die but quite what most of us could realistically expect.