USDA steps up screwworm monitoring as cases expand in Texas
State and federal officials are expanding quarantine and sterile-fly efforts as Texas ranchers face an estimated $1.8 billion risk, authorities said.
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed an escalating screwworm outbreak in Texas, with at least 12 infections identified in cattle and wildlife as of Tuesday, June 16, 2026.
- Critics attribute the infestation to 2025 budget cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency , which reduced APHIS staff by 1,885 employees and allegedly eliminated the first line of defense inspecting cattle imports from Mexico.
- The screwworm threatens Texas' $15 billion cattle industry and $10 billion hunting sector, with veterinarian Gaylon Wilmeth-Burleson warning that newborn fawns in South Texas are particularly vulnerable during the current fawning season.
- Governor Greg Abbott declared a disaster as the USDA established a 12-mile quarantine zone in Zavala County and began constructing a facility in Edinburg to produce sterile male flies.
- Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist at StoneX Group, warns the U.S. will be "handicapped for a while" in sterile fly dispersal, with containment potentially requiring two to three years despite the Trump administration's commitment of at least $1 billion.
12 Articles
12 Articles
Texas' fight against the New World screwworm will be nasty and brutish
This article was originally published by the Texas Observer, a nonprofit investigative news outlet and magazine. Sign up for their weekly newsletter, or follow them on Facebook, X and Bluesky. After spending four decades in exile south of the Rio Grande, the New World screwworm has finally wriggled its way back into Texas. The return of the parasitic worm has […] The post Texas’ fight against the New World screwworm will be nasty and brutish app…
'Peak incompetence': Trump wants $1B for screwworm after cutting $15M program
When Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” took its chainsaw to the federal bureaucracy last year, it created bottlenecks that may have hampered the fight against the screwworm infestation currently menacing the southwest while making it much more expensive.The annual US Department of Agriculture (USDA) spending to combat the flesh-eating insects only amounted to about $15 million per year. But along with about $382 million aimed at …
While Mexico defends ‘sovereignty,’ cartels import a flesh-eating parasite into Texas
As the New World screwworm returns to American soil for the first time since its eradication 60 years ago, Texas is now on the front line of Mexico's threat to U.S. sovereignty and national security.The return of New World screwworm to the United States began with the collapse of the biological containment barrier in Central America that broke in 2021 when millions of illegal aliens were moved through the Darién Gap, overwhelming border controls…
'We didn't have a lot of deer': Screwworm threat revives old fears in South Texas
A South Texas veterinarian says older generations remember when screwworm infestations took a toll on local deer populations. Now, wildlife officials are working to keep the parasite from spreading again and threatening Texas' $10 billion hunting industry.
Guebert: Screwworms eat flesh, screw-ups cost money
Poor Joe Biden. Out of office for 17 months and he's still the reason for every Trump Administration failure, large or small. Take the latest screw-up the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) now finds itself brisket-deep in: the recent discovery of multiple cases of "flesh-eating screwworm parasites" in the Southwest. Screwworm, explainsReuters, is a very big, very bad deal. "Screwworms are parasitic flies that deposit eggs in open wounds or m…
Texas’ Fight Against the Screwworm Will Be Nasty and Brutish
After spending four decades in exile south of the Rio Grande, the New World screwworm has finally wriggled its way back into Texas. The return of the parasitic worm has been splashed across national, state, and local headlines for the past couple weeks with equal measures of trepidation and disgust, prompting alarm and pledges of swift action from government officials. It’s potentially devastating news for Texas livestock producers, who stand to…
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