AUSTIN (Nexstar) The New World screwworm (NWS) a maggot which feeds off living flesh is on Texas’s doorstep.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the pest was spotted by Mexican authorities in Sabinas Hidalgo in the Mexican state of Nuevo León. The city is less than a two-hour drive to Laredo, Texas.

“This is now the northernmost detection of NWS during this outbreak, and the one most threatening to the American cattle and livestock industry,” USDA said on Sunday.

According to the USDA, the newest screwworm outbreak in Central America in 2023, and officials started to be concerned about a potential spread as early as January. The parasite last wreaked havoc in the United States in the 1950s, costing farmers an estimated $50-$100 million per year in the American Southwest. Despite being eradicated from the United States in 1966, frequent outbreaks in Mexico cost Texas’s economy $283-$375 million per year before the countries worked together to push the parasite out of Mexico.

In June, Texas created a response team to deal with the NWS. Then, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins visited the Texas Capitol to announce a new sterile fly production facility planned to be constructed in Edinburg. It’s part of a five-prong approach to tackle the issue. The facility will breed 300 million flies a week with the intention of releasing the sterile male flies into the population. Using sterile populations for control was developed at the University of Texas in Austin by entomologists, Edward F. Knipling and Raymond C. Bushland.

The USDA and the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) said the sterile fly technique is the proven method to eradicate the pest from the country. But Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said his agency has created a new fly bait that, coupled with the sterile fly technique, can eradiate the pest in just 90 days. It previously took the U.S. decades to remove the pest south of the border.

The bait, called TDA Swormlure, is being tested in Panama, a hot zone for the screwworm. Miller is confident with its effectiveness, but said he can not get the USDA or TAHC to implement the bait.

“They are still hell-bent on a 70-year-old technology of sterile flies only. There is a fly bait that kills 90% of these flies. All I’m asking is just put out the fly bait and stop this nonsense,” Miller said.

He believes the sterile fly technique will take too long to remove the pest, which could wreak havoc on the cattle industry in Texas, harming jobs and America’s food supply. He claims it will take four years to build the sterile fly production facility in south Texas. There is no specific timeline of when that facility will be operational.

“We don’t have four years to wait on sterile flies to solve this problem,” Miller said.

Nexstar reached out to the USDA to ask if it is considering TDA Swormlure and if it had a timeline for the new production facility, and are waiting for a response. Part of USDA’s five-prong approach to the NWS is investing $100 million on new technologies and new tools to combat the pest. The TDA Swormlure could be considered for that funding.

What to look out for

Signs of an animal infested with the New World screwworm include:

• Foul-smelling wounds with maggots
• Animals biting or licking their wounds
• Lesions in bellybuttons, ears and where branding has occured
• Lethargy

If an infestation is suspected, Texas A&M Agrilife recommends you contact authorities, like the Texas Animal Health Commission and Texas Parks and Wildlife, and notify your veterinarian.

You should then inspect the animal for signs of infestation and collect any samples to give to authorities. There are several treatment options, including topical treatments.