Exclusive-U.S. confirms nation's first travel-associated human screwworm case connected to Central American outbreak Cassandra Garrison Sun, 24 August 2025 at 4:26 pm GMT-6
By Cassandra Garrison, Tom Polansek and Leah Douglas
BUENOS AIRES/CHICAGO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Sunday reported the first human case in the United States of travel-associated New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite, from an outbreak-affected country.
The case, investigated by the Maryland Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was confirmed by the CDC as New World screwworm on August 4, and involved a patient who returned from travel to El Salvador, HHS spokesman Andrew G. Nixon said in an email to Reuters.
Earlier, Reuters reported that beef industry sources said last week that the CDC had confirmed a case of New World screwworm in a person in Maryland who had traveled to the United States from Guatemala.
Nixon did not address the discrepancy on the source of the human case.
"The risk to public health in the United States from this introduction is very low," he said.
The U.S. government has not confirmed any cases in animals this year.
The differing accounts from the U.S. government and industry sources on the human case are likely to further rattle an industry of cattle ranchers, beef producers and livestock traders already on high alert for potential U.S. infestations as screwworm has moved northward from Central America and southern Mexico.
The government's confirmation of a screwworm case comes just over a week after U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins traveled to Texas to announce plans to build a sterile fly facility there as part of efforts to combat the pest.
The USDA has estimated a screwworm outbreak could cost the economy in Texas, the biggest U.S. cattle-producing state, about $1.8 billion in livestock deaths, labor costs and medication expenses.ChristopherBlackwell
Holy crappoli !! I have never heard of that but it sounds terrible!
on August 25, 2025, 2:59 pm
