New World Screwworm detected about 90 miles from the United States

The CDC lists a few symptoms of NWS in mammals, including: * Feeling maggots (larvae) move or seeing maggots within a skin wound or sore, or in the ears, nose, eyes, or mouth. * Painful skin wounds or sores that worsen within a few days. * A foul-smelling odor from the site of the infestation. * Bleeding from open sores.

It’s as gross as it sounds

For this who arnt aware Screwworm is a flesh eating parasitic fly. Screwworms lays their eggs on wounds with the resulting maggots eating tissue. Unlike most flies that eat dead tissue, these fly larvae exclusively eat living tissue often resulting in massive gaping wounds that can become infected quite easily. Fortunately human cases aren't super common and the parasite primarily impacts cattle. This parasite was eradicated from the US in the 1960s. This was done by releasing sterile male flies. The flies only make once so by releasing sterile flies the female cannot lay viable eggs. The fly species was pushed down to the darien gap, and a border has been maintained there for several decades. **Videos with more information** Estimated cost savings for this parasites eradication is about 900 million dollars annually in the United States since the 1960s. [7 min video on parasites biology ](https://youtu.be/AkXfYKi3vMQ?si=nkEPSx6l4zAG3jnu) Recently the current admin has been trying to blame immigrants for the resurgence of this parasite, but this is just disinformation and it's much more related to cocaine smuggling and illegal cattle trade. [7 min video debunking misinformation ](https://youtu.be/61wts9flz_8?si=XbXLPF4f7l0guBz4) **Full disclosure**: I made these videos. I make educational videos about Parasitology In case any people are nerdy like me and want to learn about a really cool biology topic like toxoplasmosis (cat lady parasite), rfk's brain worm, and horse crab parasites.

“Can’t wait to try this baby out!!!” RFK Jr., probably…

Stuff like this spreads quietly and then suddenly it’s everyone’s problem. Not trying to be dramatic, but anything that literally eats living tissue is nightmare fuel. Hope they get ahead of it fast before it turns into something bigger.

There was quite an interesting Radiolab last month on the screwworm [https://radiolab.org/podcast/return-of-the-flesheaters](https://radiolab.org/podcast/return-of-the-flesheaters)

Weird, almost like Someone cut the funding to programs that control livestock parasites in South America. Programs specifically made to prevent the spread of said parasites to the US. There couldn't possibly be a connection.

If only we hadn't cut funding for efforts to mitigate the spread of the New World Screwworm... [https://www.tsln.com/news/us-terminates-funding-for-fao-animal-disease-emergencies/](https://www.tsln.com/news/us-terminates-funding-for-fao-animal-disease-emergencies/)

Get ready for ranchers to become even more heavily subsidized

I think a lot of people in the USA don't understand just how crazy nature can get, and how much we've "tamed" it in the US through active efforts.  They're about to learn...

Gee, I hope the ongoing global shift in climate doesn't cause weird parasites and bugs to suddenly have whole new environments to live in!

This is our own fault as I understand. The U.S. used to stop the spread of the screwworm by distributing sterilized worms at a choke point between North and South America. Then DOGE decided that there was no more money for this. Thanks guys

There it is. There it f****** is. The plague I called back when Trump canceled the grant for Screwworm sterilization years ago. We'd gotten SO close to eradicating them and one stupid, uneducated a****** comes in like a wrecking ball. Well, the joke's on you conservative cattle ranchers. You get to watch parasitic infections race through your herds faster than a wildfire just like your great grandpappies did, only at least they can say they didn't know the cause. You idiots f****** VOTED for it.

I was part of the screw worm eradication project in the middle 1980s. We pushed the screw worms all the way to the Guatemalan border. Don't tell me it's coming back.

"New world screwworm" is my favorite Rush song.

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Kurzgesagt has a super informative [video](https://youtu.be/zxq60I5RSW8?si=i3arnNfLJYnYc4_0) breaking down this issue. We had a pretty good system for containment until [*somebody*](https://www.agri-pulse.com/articles/22636-bird-flu-screwworm-monitoring-among-foreign-aid-programs-killed-by-trump) stepped in and stopped funding the program. Shocker.

Don't worry, I'm sure RFK will got on Joe Rogan and talk about how it's actually healthy and beneficial to use these worms to cleanse toxins or some shit.

The easiest way to fix this problem is to use the SNE/HNE method. Shut down the Texas Dept. of Agriculture as well as the Federal Dept. of Agriculture thus See No Evil/Hear No Evil - everything is fine and it will be the Democrats faultp

A reminder to anyone not in the know, the US had a program that mitigated the spread of this parasite by dropping sterilized screwworms that kept populations at bay. DOGE cut the funding to this program in a penny wise pounds foolish incompetence.

There's a really huge one we've detected in the D.C. area. Eats McDonald's a lot. And is, right now, screwing millions of people on a daily basis.

Wow, we're....screwed.

90 mi ain’t shit people. Beef is off the menu.

Calling that for my new band name!

You idiots think beef is expensive now just you wait till this parasite decimates herds bet you still don't regret voting for trump though do ya

Huh. New World Screwworm. Haven't heard Andrew Tate referred to like that before.

RFK's brain worm is summoning them 🥺

Why does this not surprise me as yet another disturbing element of this timeline we’re living through?

A reminder: this was an entirely preventable thing that we had been successfully fighting off since the 1960s. It's native to the US, but we pushed it back to South America thanks for the foreign aid that Trump and Elon got rid of. This is going to wreck havoc on cattle, and drive up the cost of beef. For not f****** reason.

I did a whole fun analysis on the problem if anyone is interested in such things: https://youtu.be/SKCu4VNfLtU

Thank god farmers are usually liberal enough to lobby to pay taxes into regulating these things oh wait suck a d***

You know trump wants his name on everything, I propose we name the screwworm “trumpworm” because they seem to have very similar attributes.

RFK's brainworm: "Oh ho, are you approaching me?"

Reason #836473 not to live in Texas

Can we go back to Murder Hornets? Those were much simpler times.

Luckily we have the most inept administration in the history of America on charge right now so this should end up great.

Oh, sounds like Vance is almost back from his latest trip abroad.

is RFK Jr planning on eating any or has this already been covered ?

There weren't federal agencies who championed management of such things. Oh that's right....Trump canned them in lieu of grifting/ballroom/bombs.

Interesting to comb through the comments and see how clueless everyone is about how bad this is.  No wonder we in the US are fucked, you guys just live in Lala land and are totally unaware of massive work being done by your government to keep you alive and protected. 

Somehow this is the least depressing thing in my feed Just eat me already, Screwworm

LISAAN AL GHAIIB!

Radiolab had a recent episode about this: Return of the Flesh-Eaters https://radiolab.org/podcast/return-of-the-flesheaters

Wake-up babe, new screwworm just dropped!