USDA Deploys Sterilized Flies, High‑Tech Arsenal to Guard the Border Against Screwworm Threat
Between the USDA’s sterile‑fly arsenal, state‑level vigilance, and a wall of new technology lining up close to our border, this pest may find itself out-of-luck even before it ever crosses the Rio Grande.
We have been covering the battle to control the New World Screwworm (NWS, Cochliomyia hominivorax), a flesh-eating parasitic fly whose larvae infest open wounds of warm-blooded animals, including livestock, wildlife, pets, and occasionally humans, causing severe tissue damage and often death if left untreated. The pest appears to be infesting Mexico and heading north.
In the fall, we noted that the state of California warned people that more infestations of this particular parasite were possible.
Well, Texas is not waiting around. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has issued a statewide disaster declaration to prevent an invasion of NWS, which officials warn could severely damage Texas’s cattle herd and drive up beef prices if the parasite reaches the state.
Although the New World screwworm has not yet been detected inside Texas or elsewhere in the United States, state and federal officials have been closely monitoring confirmed cases in northern Mexico. Multiple infestations have been documented in Mexican states near the Texas border, including a confirmed case roughly seventy miles from the border in Nuevo León.
Governor Abbott made clear that the declaration is intended to prevent harm rather than respond after damage has occurred. He stated that state law authorizes him to act before an infestation reaches Texas and that waiting until livestock and wildlife are affected would be irresponsible given the scale of potential losses.
As I have noted previously, NWS are controlled using the sterile insect technique, in which large numbers of lab‑reared male flies are sterilized with ionizing radiation and then released over affected or at‑risk areas. Because female NWS flies mate only once in their lifetime, mating with sterile males results in eggs that do not hatch, causing the wild population to shrink generation by generation until it collapses.
There was a move to create a plant for sterilized flies in Mexico. Now, a facility for insect dispersal has opened up in Texas.
A new sterile fly production facility has opened in Edinburg, Texas, as part of efforts to protect livestock from the New World screwworm.
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the facility opening on Monday, saying, “This facility strengthens our ability to stop this dangerous pest before it reaches U.S. soil by expanding sterile fly operations, improving response time, and reinforcing border protections.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) built the facility to disperse sterile insects, marking the first time the USDA will extend its dispersal efforts into Texas, covering 50 miles along the U.S.-Mexico border near Tamaulipas.
Today, @USDA opened a NEW New World screwworm sterile fly dispersal facility at Moore Air Base in South Texas — a major step in protecting American livestock and our food supply.
This facility strengthens our ability to stop this dangerous pest before it reaches U.S. soil by… pic.twitter.com/AEks58AxDg— Secretary Brooke Rollins (@SecRollins) February 10, 2026
The U.S. used this technique successfully in the 1970’s, during the last incursion of this pest. Rollins notes we have even more technology available for this response.
This isn’t the first time the U.S. has battled screwworm flies in this way. Between the late 1950’s and late 1970’s, the U.S. utilized similar dispersal facilities when screwworm outbreaks impacted the country. Since then, those facilities have been discontinued as the country has been without screwworm flies for decades.
Now, combined with other safeguards, including improved surveillance, traps, and lures outlined in the USDA’s response plan, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins believes the country is ready to respond if those flies reach U.S. soil.
“We have tools available today that we didn’t have in the 50’s and the 60’s and the 70’s that I sincerely believe if it does cross our border, we are ready.” Secretary Rollins said during the unveiling ceremony Monday.
“I don’t want to underplay it because it is a big threat to our country, but I believe we’re as prepared as we can possibly be if that happens, we can deal with it and move towards eradication.”
The New World screwworm might be a formidable and nasty menace. However, it’s up against a potent defense…our own high-tech version of a “Venus flytrap”, using the insects’ sex drive to stop its incursion into this country cold.
Between the USDA’s sterile‑fly arsenal, state‑level vigilance, and a wall of new technology lining up close to our border, this pest may find itself out-of-luck even before it ever crosses the Rio Grande.
That means America’s cattle can keep grazing in peace, and Americans can continue to enjoy nutrient‑rich steaks worthy of the Lone Star State itself. I, for one, am grateful!
I, for one, appreciate the protection of the American cattle industry and my steaks. https://t.co/lGoA2AqXst pic.twitter.com/Oafu6aHwPW
— Leslie Eastman ☥ (@Mutnodjmet) February 12, 2026
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Why hasn’t screwworm reared it’s augering head until now?
Now is as good a time as any I guess.
Why hasn’t someone made a movie called “screwworm” yet? I’d really like to hear the Critical Drinker review of that.
They beat it back with continual release of sterile flies. Then they shifted the production of the flies to Mexico shutting down most US facilities… then gave the place to the Mexican govt which closed it when the US govt stopped paying for production of flies, early in the Biden Admin as I recall. No continuing releases of new generations of sterile flies to contain the issue to a localized, more manageable level and after a few years of neglect here we are. Maintenance ain’t sexy, not a lot of photo ops and big constituencies who’s vote hinges on all sorts of mundane, usually boring/unknown things ….until the crap hits the fan when folks temporarily pay attention.
It was actually during the Obama administration that the USDA decided that the program had been a success and was no longer needed. Everything the left does is stupid, counterproductive and destructive.
Could have sworn it was Biden but I’ll take your word for it. You are absolutely correct about lefty mal investment and the abandonment of boring basics in favor of shiny objects to please their rabid base.
Hey, as long as they’re sterile, I’m chill.
But I remember the program to mate very productive (but aggressive) bees with barely productive but gentler bees, in order to produce a gentle bee that was very productive. Yeah, crocogator/alladile, you got it. They produced the famous Killer Bees, that were insanely aggressive and made damn near no honey at all.
The sterile fly program was very successful and cleared screwworms out of the USA and Mexico. Until they killed the program.
What everyone seems to overlook regarding the screwworm, is what its function is in nature. Mary years ago in Texas, a previous infestation was halted in a similar manner initiated by cattlemen who were losing calves to the screwworm. Well, it was successful, with devastating results. You see, one of the screwworm functions was to control the deer population. And in case you are not familiar with the deer population out here, it is out of control! The result is deer starving in lean years, overrunning homesteads devouring everything in their paths. Ranchers have too much power, and they’re not bright enough to know it’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature. Just ask the coyotes
Living in south central Texas in thr 60s and 70s these things were an awful problem. Not only did the sterile fly program save ranchers billions, wildlife populations increased. Bag limit on whitetail deer was 2 per year and not easy to get. Now it is 5 and if I could eat them, I would have no problem getting that many. Of course sports conservation programs helped but getting rid of the screwworm was the biggest factor.
Ranchers had to dedicate a portion of the ranch hands ( say cowboys) to monitoring and treating young and newborn stock. Standard saddle and pickup gear was a rope, fence tools and a supply of the salves used to treat the worm infestation.
Killing wild animals for sport (food?) is primitive. Ranchers have contributed more to the destruction of prairie lands than the screwworm ever has. Losing cattle to the screwworm is just the cost of doing business. Throwing the balance of nature out of wack only benefits the knuckle draggers out there getting their jolly’s killing things
What good are the prairie lands if no one gets any use out of them?
What do you mean by use? Are us humans the only thing entitled to “use” the planet? Believe me, there are many living things that depend on prairie lands for their existence. The issue is us humans not exercising the ability to coexist. Instead we feel it is our right to “use” it only for our benefit, and everything else be damned. Gone are the vast herds of buffalo, pronghorn. The cougar has been hunted out. Even the prairie dog has been eliminated in many areas because ranchers didn’t want their cattle falling into their burrows. Ranchers are not the best stewards of the land that they clam they are.
Yes. The planet exists for our benefit, and nothing has any value except to the extent that it has value to some person. That’s what the word “value” means. Value is not inherent in things, it exists in people’s minds. When you say something is valuable, you must necessarily mean it’s valuable to someone.
So what? Of what importance is that? The relevant question is whether those things are themselves valuable to people. If they’re not then it’s of no consequence if they stop existing.
That’s exactly right. Value exists only in people’s minds, so only people are inherently important. Everything else is important only to the extent that it’s important to some person.
And? The buffalo and pronghorn were useful, but we had no need for so many of them. Cougars and prairie dogs are of no use to us, and are harmful to us, so it’s right and proper that they be gone.