LA PRYOR: A second case of the flesh-eating screwworm parasite was confirmed by the US agriculture department (USDA) in Texas on Friday, just miles from where the first case in the US in decades was detected this week.
The case was detected in Zavala County on a ranch 9km from the first positive case of screwworm in Texas, which the USDA confirmed on Wednesday.
Reuters reported the second confirmed case earlier on Friday citing sources. The USDA later said the infection was in a one-month-old calf.
Rear Admiral Michael Schmoyer, associate administrator for USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, had said earlier on Friday in a press conference that there was only one infested animal.
The second case follows an initial detection nearby in La Pryor, a town roughly 48km northeast of the US-Mexico border, dealing a setback to US cattle ranchers who have been preparing for the arrival of the pest as it has moved north through Mexico over the past year.
Screwworms are parasitic flies that deposit eggs in open wounds or mucous membranes of warm-blooded animals. After hatching, the larvae penetrate living tissue, feeding on the host and potentially causing fatal damage if not treated.
