The deadly helix pest has spread with two new cases | Today’s news
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed two more cases of the New World hookworm, bringing the total number of detections in the U.S. to four and raising concerns about the parasite’s wider spread.
The fly was found in a calf in La Salle County, Texas, and in a dog in New Mexico, the agency said in a Monday release. This comes after two cases were confirmed last week in calves in Zavala County, South Texas, marking the first detection of the fly in the US in more than a decade and the first in cattle in about five decades.
The latest detection in La Salle County is near the town of Zavala, where the last two cattle cases were confirmed. But confirmation of a screw in a dog places the pest well outside that area and across state lines. The animal was originally linked to Andrews County, Texas, as it was reported by a state veterinarian, but the dog’s home is in Lea County, New Mexico, the USDA said later Monday.
While this is “believed to be an isolated case,” USDA and state partners are checking other animals in the kennel and increasing outreach in the area “as the dog’s recent travel and exposure history remains unknown,” the agency said. The USDA previously said the dog was believed to have recently been in Mexico.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Monday on CNBC that the U.S. will “do everything we can, invest over $1 billion” to push the New World screwworm out of the country.
The spread risks more precautionary measures to limit livestock movements. The Georgia Department of Agriculture said last Friday it would restrict the movement of livestock and pets into the state from a dozen Texas counties, while Canada blocked the transit of livestock that had been in Texas during a three-week window.
That adds further worry to the U.S. beef industry, which is already struggling with supply shortages as the domestic herd has shrunk to a 75-year low.
Detection of the helix is likely to further delay any efforts to expand the U.S. herd, said Glynn Tonsor, a professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State University. Tonsor said he was “pretty vocal” late last year that more ranchers would begin the expansion process this summer, but the increased dryness — and now the helix — creates more uncertainty, he added.
Tighter cattle supplies, even if limited to Texas, would also continue to put pressure on beef processing plants that are already operating at a loss due to cattle shortages. Companies including Tyson Foods Inc. and JBS NV resorted to plant closures due to high cattle prices.
Chicago feeder cattle futures have risen about 2% since last Wednesday, when the first case in Texas was reported but not yet confirmed. Tyson shares fell as much as 2.3% on Monday, while JBS fell as much as 6.1% to its lowest price since it opened in the US more than a year ago.
The screwworm is a fly whose larvae burrow into the flesh of animals, which in some cases leads to death. The infestation is treatable, including through a slew of drugs that the US Food and Drug Administration has already approved in emergency mode, and the USDA has declared the food supply safe.
A 1976 Texas outbreak affected more than 1.5 billion head of cattle and was eventually eradicated by dispersing sterile flies that limited the pest’s ability to reproduce. The USDA plans to release eight million sterile flies each week into the current control zone, which stretches 20 kilometers (12 miles) around the initial detection in La Pryor, Zavala County.
Dispersal of such flies will need to reach 400 million per week, Rollins said on CNBC. The Panama facility produces and disperses 100 million flies a week, “but we need a lot more than 100 million flies a week to eradicate,” she said.
Starting operations in November 2027, the manufacturing facility under construction in Texas – the first of its kind in the US – is expected to produce 100 million flies per week, with further growth to a full capacity of 300 million flies per week.
(Update with USDA’s clarification on canine helix casing beginning in second paragraph.)
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