Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller responded to the additional New World screwworm detection by demanding the immediate federal deployment of a specialized fly suppression system.
According to a June 8 press release from the Texas Department of Agriculture, the latest confirmed cases have expanded the parasite’s footprint into Gillespie and Andrews counties, as well as into Lea County, New Mexico.
The new detections mark the first time the flesh-eating agricultural pest has reached Central Texas, West Texas, and a neighboring state. Miller said the continued geographic march of the pest should set off alarm bells across the country.
He urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture to immediately deploy the Screwworm Adult Suppression System (SWASS), a program that utilizes targeted bait to eliminate fertile adult flies before they can reproduce. Miller said he has personally placed the necessary research and bait formulas into the hands of USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins three separate times over the past year.
While state and federal teams have scaled up sterile fly releases, Miller said that combining sterile flies with the SWASS bait strategy is required to contain the spread. He clarified that the state is not advocating for the use of Dichlorvos — a highly effective 1970s-era screwworm insecticide later identified as a carcinogen — noting that safe, modern chemical alternatives are readily available to manufacture the bait pellets.
According to federal officials, the newly discovered New Mexico case involved an infested dog that was initially reported in Andrews County but resides across the state line. A separate case was confirmed in a goat in Gillespie County.
Miller called on the federal government to officially declare the outbreak a national agricultural emergency, warning that a full-scale infestation would cost the Texas agricultural economy billions of dollars.