MCALLEN, Texas, June 25 (Del Rio Online) — Texas animal-health officials are considering armadillos, opossums, rabbits and other small wildlife as possible carriers in the state’s New World screwworm case, while federal officials say the parasite usually spreads through open wounds in warm-blooded animals and, in rare cases, people.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service confirmed June 3 that it had found New World screwworm in a bovine in Zavala County, Texas. APHIS said the animal was a 3-week-old calf and that larvae were found in its umbilical area, and it said there had been no further detections at the time.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said it is still investigating how the screwworm spread and that the source of the first case remains under investigation. Its disease page says white-tailed deer, jackrabbits, cottontails, small mammals and turkeys are more commonly affected, and a department spokesperson said wildlife is susceptible in the same way as livestock and other warm-blooded animals.
The Texas Animal Health Commission says New World screwworm was eradicated from the United States in 1966 using the sterile insect technique. The commission also says cases have increased in Central America since 2023 and notes a November 2024 detection in a cow at an inspection checkpoint in Chiapas, Mexico.
APHIS says screwworm maggots do not infest meat, fruits, vegetables or other food sources, and the agency says the U.S. food supply is safe.
