Screw worms

One article stated that the adult Screwworm flies, can actually fly over 100 miles.
That might be why the ag people were trying so hard to keep it in central America so that we still had the "buffer" of Mexico. To try to stop it if it did show up in a few animals in Mexico, it was not a full blown infestation... but maybe just a few odd flies that had gotten there. The way I have read and understand, they put thousands of sterile flys out to breed so they cannot produce any viable eggs and that has held the infectious problem in the central american countries. But, I am not there, so only have information that I can research.
 
That might be why the ag people were trying so hard to keep it in central America so that we still had the "buffer" of Mexico. To try to stop it if it did show up in a few animals in Mexico, it was not a full blown infestation... but maybe just a few odd flies that had gotten there. The way I have read and understand, they put thousands of sterile flys out to breed so they cannot produce any viable eggs and that has held the infectious problem in the central american countries. But, I am not there, so only have information that I can research.
Greetings

We live in Panama.
The US government has run a program where they do breed sterile flies, and fly them out all over the country and air drop them over areas where there has been reported infestations.

About 3 Months ago we had a bout of screw worm. Very nasty things as they will lay eggs in any punture in cows hide, as small as a tick bite. As soon as they hatch they 'screw' into the flesh like hubdreds of cigarettes stacked together in the wound and eat all the tissue they come into contact with. In 2 days a small bite became a hole as long as a finger up a leg.
You contact or take a sample in of the larvae with your GPS coordinates and they test. If positive they just fly out and air drop sterile flies from the factory over your position.
Heard recently they were breeding here and flying to Nicaragua.

Invermectin does kill them, and prevents reinfestation at doses on the bottle.
 
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@Reserva X ... thank you for your post and information. And although you have been a member for a couple months, welcome to CT....
They sound like a pretty nasty fly.... and yes, score another one for ivermectin.....
Very kind of you, much appreciated.
Yes, I hang out here to learn from Y'all.
And the daily chuckle of course.
So thanks for sharing your experiences.
 
No. Unlike most other fly species, the screw worm flies only lay their eggs in wounds on living hosts. They do not breed in dead carcasses, manure, rotting vegetation.
Would there be a risk where a wound already had eggs in it and was not trimmed out properly in a slaughtered animal?

Ken
 
No. Unlike most other fly species, the screw worm flies only lay their eggs in wounds on living hosts. They do not breed in dead carcasses, manure, rotting vegetation.

LuckyP, from what I remember from ag class in the mid 60s, the larvae of a screw worm fly and a blow fly were indistinguishable except under a microscope.

TJermilkperson...
Still breeding and releasing them in um...our country too.

[H2]The United States and Mexico Agree to Fight the Screwworm Together[/H2]
By 1963, researchers discovered that screwworm flies could fly distances of up to 180 miles. This meant that none of the southwestern states could be free of screwworms until the pests were eradicated in Mexico. In 1965, following an outbreak in the Southwest, Mexican and U.S. livestock producers signed a declaration asking for the establishment of a joint program for the eradication of the screwworm from the states on either side of the Mexico-U.S. border.

[H2]The United States Officially Declared Free of Screwworms[/H2]
The United States was declared officially free of indigenous screwworms in 1966. By that year the Mission facility was producing up to 150 million sterile flies per week. U.S. livestock was still vulnerable to reinfestation from screwworms migrating from areas in Mexico that had not been eradicated.

[H2]The Barrier Zone Between the United States and Mexico[/H2]
Once the United States was free of self-sustaining screwworm populations, a barrier zone was established between Mexico and the United States by releasing sterile male flies in northern Mexico, primarily in the border areas. Releasing the flies deterred the buildup of the natural screwworm population along the Mexico and United States border.
 

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