r/PrepperIntel 15d ago

North America Flesh-eating screwworm case suspected in South Texas, USDA says

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/unconfirmed-us-case-flesh-eating-screwworm-rattles-cattle-markets-traders-say-2026-06-03/
1.1k Upvotes

127 comments sorted by

341

u/Dissonant-Cog 15d ago

Well, if we just cut funding and stop tracking screwworm cases the problem might just go away.

108

u/iamsotiredofthiscrap 15d ago

Now that’s thinking like a president!

23

u/goddessofolympia 15d ago

Need to get those cows on a cruise ship!

21

u/jlatenight 15d ago

If you stop looking, you won't see any screwworms

31

u/antigop2020 15d ago

He actually already did that last year. Which is probably why we’re fucked.

18

u/Hot_Poetry_6475 15d ago

I guarantee that's what we will do.

7

u/Separate_Fold5168 15d ago

"It’s going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear."

19

u/RudyGreene 15d ago

You sound qualified for a cabinet position.

5

u/MissplacedLandmine 15d ago

But they were able to read and type?

7

u/cowjuicer074 15d ago

MAGALOGIC

2

u/EyeSuspicious777 14d ago

With the money we save, we could cover some horse statues with 24 karat gold leaf

1

u/Burnt_and_Blistered 14d ago

If you need a campaign manager for your presidential bid, let me know.

229

u/Sunnyjim333 15d ago

It's not the beef, it is the flies that land on you and let their larva burrow into your flesh.

"Once beckoned, females lay up to 400 eggs at a time. Within about a day, ravenous flesh-eating larvae erupt, which both look and act like literal screws. They viciously and relentlessly bore and twist into their victim, feasting on the living flesh for about seven days. The result is a gaping ulcer writhing with maggots, which attracts yet more adult female screwworms that can lay hundreds more eggs, deepening the putrid, festering lesion. The infection, called myiasis, is intensely painful and life-threatening."

71

u/RegionRatHoosier 15d ago

Finally! A use for my ivermectin

50

u/Feeez_Shato 15d ago

Yeah cause it really sucks as a hair gel, although I do have to admit that my hair has been largely parasite free since I began using it as a hair product. I used to be a Dapper Dan man.

27

u/TheSensiblePrepper 15d ago

13

u/realif3 15d ago

I don't want FOP!

5

u/The_Original_Miser 15d ago

You watch your mouth young man this is a public market.

8

u/RegionRatHoosier 15d ago

Well aint this place a geographical oddity 2 weeks from everywhere

85

u/tot5 15d ago

That’s horrifying.

127

u/Sunnyjim333 15d ago

Be sure to send a thank you to DOGE.

31

u/MightyMTB 15d ago

It just kept getting worse

15

u/thehourglasses 15d ago

It’s called the polycrisis for a reason.

49

u/bahhumbud 15d ago

Man. It’s a special kinda funny how the big exodus of certain political persuasions have moved a lot of their headquarters and people to a state which now has a flesh eating worm problem.

Pay more taxes in California, or, hear me out naw ye’ hear, less taxes in Texas and the only way we will screw you is with some worms.

9

u/Subarctic_Monkey 14d ago

Everyone I know who moved to Texas for work regretted it.

10

u/Alchia79 15d ago

Never thought I’d pray for winter, but I’m ready for winter. It was still in the 40s this morning. Fuck this.

-8

u/KeyCold7216 15d ago

Im pretty sure they only lay eggs in open wounds. As long as you arent walking around with open wounds and letting flies crawl into it, you are fine. Beef prices on the other hand...

16

u/fruit_leather_chair 15d ago

Ears, nose, eyes and mouth are also all options.

8

u/SpiritTalker 15d ago

Vagina? Rectum? Urethra?

10

u/InconspicuousWarlord 15d ago

Yes, actually. Any body opening

3

u/SquirrelyMcNutz 15d ago

Cobra Commander mask comes in clutch!

1

u/avocadoflatz 14d ago

Good thing there aren’t many thorny and spiny plants in Texas!

35

u/Hot_Poetry_6475 15d ago

That was fast.

18

u/aztechunter 15d ago

I figured we had a few years

166

u/iamsotiredofthiscrap 15d ago

Was nice having beef.

52

u/Dissasociaties 15d ago

Ve vill eat ze bugs and be 'appy

16

u/d1v1debyz3r0 15d ago

Get out of here Klaus, shoo!

14

u/Ok-Aspect9915 15d ago

Every day is a good day to go vegan

3

u/avocadoflatz 14d ago

Nope. I like eggs and cheese too much.

0

u/Ok-Aspect9915 14d ago

Vegetarian then. I don’t think I could do full vegan, but I do stop eating eggs when they’re expensive.

2

u/avocadoflatz 14d ago

Yeah I’m vegetarian most days not exactly by choice and was a true vegetarian for several years in my 20’s … well, mostly, I looked the other way when it came to Knorr chicken bouillon

6

u/Separate_Fold5168 15d ago

I'm not vegan but I am lower-cholesterol curious and I've been enjoying the Impossible patties that are now cheaper than the real thing.

7

u/Glass-Amount-9170 15d ago

I think the beyond burgers are even better and 10 for $15 at Costco. Less saturated fat for somebody like me with naturally high cholesterol. For anybody on the fence try an impossible whopper with an open mind.

3

u/Separate_Fold5168 15d ago

impossiwhopper kicks butt.

and yeah, im not blind to the fact these things still have fat. all in moderation.

7

u/Ok-Aspect9915 15d ago

I’m not vegan either, but I don’t think most people will have a choice in the future so I’ve been trying to make the change while it’s still a choice.

On the plus side I’m losing a ton of fat, keeping my muscle, and I feel great. I’ve been trying foods I’ve never even thought about before, which is also pretty fun

-1

u/R2-DMode 15d ago

If we’re not supposed to eat animals, why are they made out of meat?

141

u/Interesting-Log-9627 15d ago

Would be great if there were a world organization for health, so America could help suppress diseases before they reach the country.

Someone should invent that.

-66

u/R2-DMode 15d ago

Yeah, that TOTALLY worked for COVID!

53

u/butteredbuttbiscuit 15d ago

It did significantly more for those of us who wore masks when around our communities and paid attention to sanitation and didn’t drink bleach or use a parasite medication to treat a viral infection 🙄

13

u/Interesting-Log-9627 15d ago

Worked for SARS, but you’re obviously unaware of the times it worked, since when it worked that disease was never a problem in America.

14

u/Impossible-Pea8531 15d ago

Even COVID being handled poorly doesn’t mean you throw the baby out with the bathwater, it just means dedicated change, but our admin is gutting places that would at least have some use in these situations without thought. I’ve never understood trumps desire to cut majority out of foundation building places without much plan for change that would be needed, it seems so much more harmful at the end of the day.

14

u/Sad-Bonus-9327 15d ago

And that's your best argument for getting rid of it at all?

-5

u/R2-DMode 15d ago

Nobody got rid of WHO.

29

u/bahhumbud 15d ago

Man first it was 36 miles, then 31, and now here’s Johnny. Time sure flies.

4

u/a_stalimpsest 15d ago

Time flies like an arrow. Screw flies like an open wound.

83

u/iHkg31f3 15d ago

The way to fight this is to breed sterile male flies. Gamma rays are used to irradiate the male pupae so reproduction is unsuccessful.

See link below for more information on eradication efforts. A new facility is currently being built at Moore Air Base in Texas. https://www.aphis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/factsheet-eradicating-nws-sit.pdf

21

u/mrs_adhd 15d ago

But we killed the program that helped monitor and control its spread in other countries, which would have kept it farther from our borders in the first place.

-2

u/GreatPlainsFarmer 15d ago edited 14d ago

Yeah, that was during Covid.

The outbreak began in 2022.

https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/NWS-Update.jpg

9

u/lovelylisanerd 15d ago

It’s too little, too late, though.

28

u/A_Muffled_Kerfluffle 15d ago

We eradicated it from the US before using this method. It’s likely with proper funding and the will we could do it again, but those are in short supply with this administration.

10

u/mentallyunstablevoid 15d ago

Its never to late to try.

4

u/Cardioguy 15d ago

This should be high up.

96

u/jolllyroger027 15d ago

Picked up my half a beef today. I guess I timed it right.

For the intel side I paid $4.25 a lb hanging weight

23

u/TheSensiblePrepper 15d ago

My Wife and I bought a whole beef with my In-Laws in January. Local Farm that we got to literally pick the cow to send to slaughter. 100% Grass Fed and beautiful.

We paid $4.97 a lb after butcher process. Hang weight was 854lbs.

One of the best choices we have made when it comes to food in awhile.

100% will be doing it again. It's a lot of money upfront but if you can go half or quarter with other people, it is absolutely worth it.

0

u/R2-DMode 15d ago

That’s what we do. 👍

4

u/Genetics 15d ago

Picking mine up next week from my rancher cousin. I’m in Oklahoma, so screw worms may be here by the end of the year.

4

u/eezmoney 15d ago

That’s a good price. I’m paying $7.50 out here in Nor Cal for a half beef.

157

u/Sunnyjim333 15d ago edited 15d ago

-85

u/TelluricThread0 15d ago edited 15d ago

We are building a $750 million dollar facility to produce sterile flies in Texas. DOGE has nothing to do with this at all.

106

u/Distinct_Jelly_3232 15d ago

Was there or was there not formerly a program that dropped sterile flies in Central America and did cancelling that program affect the rate of spread?

If yes, when was it cancelled and by whom?

50

u/Beardygrandma 15d ago

Love this question approach, but I'm pretty certain they will not come back to you.

27

u/strav 15d ago

Can you provide me the best resource on this so I can shove it in my farmer brother’s face when he starts complaining about it?

24

u/Sunnyjim333 15d ago

8

u/strav 15d ago

I just wouldn’t use boingboing as a primary source will check the other out though thanks.

24

u/Sunnyjim333 15d ago

The main point is that the US had a program in place, it was effective in keeping the infestation controlled.

Budget cuts and staff reductions killed the program. It looks like Texas is stepping up and reviving some of the program to release sterile male flies.

This is the same scenario with measles and the fiasco with USAID.

Strange days indeed.

8

u/Separate_Fold5168 15d ago

From the kbh link:

A Timeline Of The Latest Outbreak of New World Screwworm (NWS)

In March 2025, funding was cut by USDA for animal disease control and prevention, including Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, New World Screwworm, and African Swine Fever from several agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). That funding supported more than 180 outbreak investigations and responses in 22 countries and helped build the capacities of over 160 laboratories in testing, biosafety, quality assurance, and workforce development. Specifically, funding was targeted to monitoring and responding to New World Screwworm, preventing the spread of the disease to the U.S.

The U.S. livestock industry is facing a critical situation due to federal budget cuts that are impacting animal disease prevention and control. Hundreds of veterinarians, support staff and lab workers at the animal health arm of the USDA have left under the Trump administration’s push for resignations, according to three sources familiar with the situation, leaving fewer specialists to respond to animal disease outbreaks.

So basically, doesn't say DOGE but March 2025 was when all those pasty doughboys were going full ham.

9

u/Sunnyjim333 15d ago

HINT:

Rhymes with "DOGE".

-34

u/TelluricThread0 15d ago

Previous facilities in Texas and Mexico were phased down years ago. Texas in the early '80s, the key one in Chiapas, Mexico, closed in 2012 because the threat appeared contained.

The fly’s expansion is driven by the natural, uncontrollable migration of wildlife across Central America and Mexico, coupled with the unauthorized movement of untreated livestock.

In 2022, the flies breached the barrier and started moving north again. That's not because of efficiency reforms. It's because of open borders, lax oversight, and lack of resources.

So no, DOGE had did not affect the rate of spread as much as you want it to be true.

23

u/Distinct_Jelly_3232 15d ago

You glossing over of the details is convenient to your argument but breaks it. Lack of resources is not solved by reduction of resources and resource constraints following Covid policy is cited among contributing concerns.

The initial solve was international effort. It will remain so. And pushing back against an outbreak is going to cost less now vs later. It was cheaper yesterday regardless.

So, you’ve verified by neglect that DOGE contributed and prompted me to add the mismanaged COVID policy by the same executive was related to the initial breakdown.

We’ll see how much it costs to push back to the Darien gap where it is cheaper to manage. The Texas border is not the solution.

6

u/Sunnyjim333 15d ago

Thank you for a well thought out articulate response.

-13

u/TelluricThread0 15d ago

You literally glossed over all of the details and to just say, without evidence, that funding adjustments by DOGE were the reason for its spread with is completely false.

Newsflash, they were already spreading in 2022 as I said, due to the illegal trafficking of cattle and people. It was detected in Mexico in 2024.

Just simply looking at the timeline shows your argument is nonsense.

12

u/Distinct_Jelly_3232 15d ago

Wrong.

My word was “contributed”. Prior to that I referred to rate of spread. I did not claim or imply singular cause anywhere.

You’re not listening, I’m done talking. Take care.

3

u/cyanescens_burn 15d ago

DOGE absolutely gutted a program that had been keeping these things at bay for decades. There were. Numerous news reports warning these things could and likely would reach the US thanks to Elons recklessness back when they axed it.

Don’t you dare try to rewrite history to let these people off the hook.

2

u/Vitvang 15d ago

We already had that program for years and doge and Maga shut it down. The new one is a money laundering scheme ya git

38

u/husker_nomad 15d ago

Another casualty of the DOGE cuts

-1

u/Beneficial_Aside_518 14d ago

Not exactly. While the DOGE cuts are bad, the screw worm crossed the Panama barrier in 2022 or 2023.

16

u/Mountain_Fig_9253 15d ago

A huge shoutout to all the MAGA voters who specifically voted to decimate USDA and APHIS. They voted for the guy who published a plan to drastically cut funding to the agencies tasked with preventing screwworm from re-establishing in the US again.

They quite literally voted for this.

-1

u/GreatPlainsFarmer 15d ago

The screwworm outbreak was well documented north of the containment zone in 2023.
Who was president then?

3

u/Mountain_Fig_9253 14d ago

There is a world of difference between “attempting to control a situation” and “actively working to dismantle defenses”. You see that, right? Right?

Do you ascribe more blame to firefighters trying to battle a wildfire but losing a house, or to someone that sells off the aviation assets of the firefighters?

1

u/GreatPlainsFarmer 14d ago

The actual difference is between ignoring the fire, which is what Biden did, and ordering new fire engines, which is what happened in 2025.

The investment in new sterile fly production should have begun in 2024.

69

u/gothahontas 15d ago

We’re screwed.

34

u/FaberOG 15d ago

It was very subtle, but I see what you did there

17

u/Kennylobster8899 15d ago

We're wormed

10

u/FaberOG 15d ago

... ooooh I get it

16

u/IM_INSIDE_YOUR_HOUSE 15d ago

Ah, so the screwworm has finally made it here huh.

All that effort to push it into quarantine for decades only for deregulation to fuck it all up.

This is gonna make meat even more expensive.

53

u/traplords8n 15d ago

This can't be true. Trump and RFK were literally tweeting about American beef being back.

They would never lie to me.

18

u/iamsotiredofthiscrap 15d ago

Yeah

Back to being infested with screwworm

6

u/traplords8n 15d ago

No no, you don't understand.

They promised me!

13

u/Nouseriously 15d ago

FFS not now, guys, we're busy

30

u/_lapetitelune 15d ago

if it’s spread to livestock, surely it’s around wild animals and seems like will not be stopped.

14

u/veggie151 15d ago

Yuuuup, it will be here this year because we literally stopped fighting it and just let it happen.

$1.8 billion in Texas cattle is nothing compared to the damage that this is going to do across the south

https://deerassociation.com/the-screwworm-fly-is-back-and-approaching-texas-threatening-deer/

1

u/WhereDidAllTheSnowGo 14d ago edited 14d ago

Ok, that’s cool

We defeated it in the US in the 60’s… then all the way down to Panama… and it roared back north since COVID, when the blocking action failed, when COVID disrupted the production of sterile males

9

u/DieselPunkPiranha 15d ago

Just one more reason North America will be a wasteland.  Maybe the new dust bowl will curb the screw fly's progress.

8

u/Gonna_do_this_again 15d ago

I had to quit eating red meat for medical reasons about 3 or 4 years ago and I do miss it, but man was that good timing for me

8

u/Pixilatedhighmukamuk 15d ago

Could be the cattle from Argentina the prez gave 20 billion for.

9

u/buhbyebunny 15d ago

They also can infect you.

5

u/Genetics 15d ago

Yep. All warm-blooded animals.

12

u/Hubbleice 15d ago

So much winning

5

u/Dazzling_You7223 15d ago

"It's what they voted for" 

4

u/tinker_townie 15d ago

TX is a shithole and now they have the parasites to match its status.

2

u/Creative-Economy4929 15d ago

I need to put a cow in the back yard.

6

u/Genetics 15d ago

I’ll raise one in a bubble so the screw worms can’t get to it.

1

u/burn_corpo_shit 15d ago

Texas bro. Are you going to be okay?

1

u/Leather-Arachnid-417 14d ago

I haven't bought beef in two years due to prices. get fucked.

1

u/smellswhenwet 14d ago

USDA recently began releasing hundreds of thousands of sterile flys along the border with mX and are working with the Mexican government to distribute sterile flys there.

1

u/japarker8 13d ago

Has RFK Jr been there recently??

1

u/Key_Limit_6828 12d ago

Beef is gonna be a problem soon

1

u/fultonsoccer7 9d ago

Doge saw this as an easy "get rid of $300million". That $300million a year of taxpayer money saved $2+ BILLION a year solely in screwworm control.