US government to build $8.5M fly-breeding facility to combat cattle parasite threat

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The U.S. government announced plans Wednesday to build an $8.5 million fly-breeding facility near the US-Mexico border as part of an initiative to prevent a flesh-eating parasite from infesting cattle.

The planned site, slated to be located at Moore Air Base in Texas, will breed millions of sterile male New World screwworm flies. The males will then be released into the wild to mate with females, preventing them from laying eggs that turn into flesh-eating larvae, the Associated Press reported.

A female New World screwworm fly lays eggs in the wound of an animal. The eggs then hatch into larvae, or maggots, that burrow into the flesh, causing potentially deadly damage, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

FLESH-EATING NEW WORLD SCREWWORM COULD POSE HEALTH RISKS TO CATTLE, HUMANS

The Texas facility would be only the second of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, AP reported.

Recent appearances of the fly in Mexico - as close as 700 miles from the Southern border - have raised concerns among officials. Last month, authorities responded by suspending cattle, horse and bison imports along the US-Mexico border, according to a news release from the USDA.

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Taking further measures, the USDA said it may also create a companion breeding center at the Texas location so that as many as 300 million flies could be produced each week. The executive department also plans to spend $21 million to convert a separate facility near Mexico's border with Guatemala into one for breeding for the fly. That site won't be ready until the end of 2026, according to AP.

"The United States has defeated [New World screwworm] before, and we will do it again," U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a statement. "We do not take lightly the threat [New World screwworm] poses to our livestock industry, our economy and our food supply chain."

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The U.S. has previously bred and released New World screwworm flies into the wild, completely eradicating the insect from the country for decades. While there are treatments for infestations of the fly, officials worry about the economic impacts on farmers. Household pets and humans can also be infested by the larvae, AP reported.

"We trust the enthusiasm for cooperation that Secretary Rollins mentioned, and based on objective results and the reports from the USDA mission visiting us this week, we will be able to restart exports of our cattle as soon as possible," Mexican Agriculture Secretary Julio Berdegué said in a post on X on Wednesday.

New World screwworm flies are endemic in Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and some South American countries, according to the USDA.

"Curbing the spread of the destructive New World screwworm is critical to protecting the Texas agriculture and livestock industry, and this new sterile fly distribution facility in Edinburg is a significant step in the right direction," Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, said in a statement. "I will continue to work alongside Secretary Rollins and my colleagues in Congress to halt the spread of New World screwworm and increase our sterile fly production capacity through my STOP Screwworms Act." 

The USDA did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.