According to its Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the United States has confirmed its first human case of New World screwworm.
The flesh-eating parasite can usually be fatal if left untreated and devours warm-blooded animals like cattle.
According to HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon in an email to the Reuters news agency, the case, which was being looked into by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was confirmed on August 4 and involved a patient who had traveled from El Salvador to the US state of Maryland.
Nixon declined to respond to a previous report that claimed a person who had traveled from Guatemala had been confirmed in Maryland. This year, there haven’t been any confirmed animal cases from the US government.
A screwworm is what?
It’s a screwworm fly larva.
Female screwworm flies infect warm-blooded animals with their eggs, which are then transformed into hundreds of screwworm larvae.
The larvae then make their way through the host’s living flesh for about a week using their sharp mouths.
They then develop in the ground for another week to two months before becoming adult fly at the end of that week.
In addition to being fatal to humans, screwworm has been known to spread to both animals and cattle.
What signs exist?
As larvae develop painful, progressive wounds when they bury themselves in living tissue in both wildlife and people. Open, foul-smelling sores with obvious maggots inside, accompanied by symptoms.
Animals who are infected may exhibit weakness, decreased mobility, weight loss, abnormal behavior, or other abnormal behaviors. Severe pain, swelling, fever, and secondary infections are symptoms in humans.
The presence of larvae in wounds is the primary indicator of screwworm. The bodies of the maggots have spine-like bands around each segment, which give them distinctive features.
Infected people can cause tissue destruction and even death if left untreated.
What is the outcome?
Painfully.
The hundreds of larvae must be manually removed, and the wounds must be cleaned.
In severe cases, pain management may be required, and antibiotics are frequently prescribed to treat secondary bacterial infections.
Topical or systemic insecticides are also used to kill the last larvae in animals to stop re-infestation and stop re-infection.
Recovery is possible with careful care, but untreated cases can result in severe tissue damage and death.
What makes this case significant?
Adult screwworm flies can quickly spread to wildlife populations, livestock herds, and even humans because they can travel for many kilometers to find their hosts. The patient in Maryland was the first case of human screwworm to be identified in the US.
The US cattle industry may be hampered by the parasite’s potential impact on human health in addition to the potential harm to the population. Because the post-partum navel has not yet healed, newborn calves are particularly vulnerable.
Screwworms have recently been discovered moving north from Central America into southern Mexico, so beef producers and livestock traders in the US are already on the lookout for potential infestations.
What steps are governments taking to address this?
More than a week after US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins announced plans to build a sterile fly facility in Texas as part of the pest’s control, the US government confirmed a screwworm case.
Male flies are produced and sterilized in a large number in a sterile fly factory. These are then released to mat with wild females, which causes a decline in the wild population. In the US in the 1960s, screwworm was eradicated using this method.
According to the USDA, a screwworm outbreak could result in about $1.8 billion in livestock deaths, labor costs, and medical expenses for Texas, the state with the largest cattle-producing population.
Mexico kicked off the construction of its own $ 51 million sterile fly production facility earlier this year as a means of limiting the spread of the pest.
Why is the US cattle industry agitated?
In recent years, screwworms have been making their way north from Central America to Mexico.
According to the USDA, they are widespread in South America, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and other nations.
After previously halting imports in November and May, the USDA ordered the closure of livestock trade through southern ports of entry when Mexico reported a new case about 595 kilometers (370 miles) south of the US border in July.
More than a million heads of cattle are legally imported from Mexico each year to fatten feedlots and slaughter animals.
Source: Aljazeera
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