Picture this: you’re flying in a plane, and suddenly millions of flies start falling from the sky. Sounds like a bad dream, right? But it’s not fiction. In fact, it’s happening right now along the southwestern border of the U.S. The cause? A dangerous, carnivorous pest known as the New World screw-worm.

What’s Really Going On?

The New World screw-worm is the larvae of a type of fly that lays its eggs on open wounds of warm-blooded animals. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae burrow into the flesh and feed on it, often leading to severe damage and even death for the animal. Since the start of 2023, this infestation has been spreading across Central America, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and El Salvador. By November 2023, the disease reached Mexico, setting off alarms in the U.S.

This Isn’t the First Time

Here’s the thing: this isn’t the first time America’s dealt with these pests. Back in the ’60s and ’70s, the U.S. faced a similar crisis. Scientists came up with a wild solution: they bred sterile male flies, packed them into planes, and released them into the wild. The goal? To prevent mating by introducing sterile males, which gradually reduced the population. The strategy worked then, and it’s being considered again now as the screw-worms spread northward.

The Fly’s Feeding Habits

Let’s break it down. The New World screw-worm is a metallic blue blowfly. Unlike other blowflies, it doesn’t just feed on dead animals, it targets live ones. This makes it especially dangerous for livestock like horses, cows, and bison. Even rare cases in humans have been reported.

After mating, the female lays up to 300 eggs on a wound of a live host. Within 12 to 24 hours, the eggs hatch, and the larvae begin feeding on the animal’s tissue. Over the next few days, they continue to devour the tissue before eventually falling to the ground to mature into adult flies. It’s a brutal process.

What’s Being Done About It?

Right now, there’s only one facility in Panama dedicated to breeding sterile flies. To slow the spread, U.S. lawmakers are pushing for the production of millions more sterile flies. The goal is to reduce the screw-worm population using the same strategy that worked decades ago: sterile males disrupting the breeding cycle.

The Big Picture

The New World screw-worm isn’t just a headache for farmers; it’s a serious ecological and economic threat. This problem won’t go away without a lot of effort, but the solution might be in our hands, literally, if we can produce enough sterile flies to outpace the pest.

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