this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2025
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The United States has, for 70 years, been fighting a continuous aerial war against the New World screwworm, a parasite that eats animals alive: cow, pig, deer, dog, even human. (Its scientific name, C. hominivorax, translates to “man-eater.”) Larvae of the parasitic fly chew through flesh, transforming small nicks into big, gruesome wounds. But in the 1950s, the U.S. Department of Agriculture laid the groundwork for a continent-wide assault. Workers raised screwworms in factories, blasted them with radiation until they were sterile, and dropped the sterile adult screwworms by the millions—even hundreds of millions—weekly over the U.S., then farther south in Mexico, and eventually in the rest of North America.

The sterile flies proceeded to, well, screw the continent’s wild populations into oblivion, and in 2006, an invisible barrier was established at the Darién Gap, the jungle that straddles the Panama-Colombia border, to cordon the screwworm-free north off from the south. The barrier, as I observed when I reported from Panama several years ago, consisted of planes releasing millions of sterile screwworms to rain down over the Darién Gap every week. This never-ending battle kept the threat of screwworms far from America.

But in 2022, the barrier was breached. Cases in Panama—mostly in cattle—skyrocketed from dozens a year to 1,000, despite ongoing drops of sterile flies. The parasite then began moving northward, at first slowly and then rapidly by 2024, which is when I began getting alarmed emails from those following the situation in Central America. As of this month, the parasite has advanced 1,600 miles through eight countries to reach Oaxaca and Veracruz in Mexico, with 700 miles left to go until the Texas border. The U.S. subsequently suspended live-cattle imports from Mexico.

Central America is shaped like a funnel with a long, bumpy tail that reaches its skinniest point in Panama. Back in the day, the USDA helped pay for screwworm eradication down to Panama out of not pure altruism but economic pragmatism: Establishing a 100-mile screwworm barrier there is cheaper than creating one at the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. Even after screwworms began creeping up the tail of the funnel recently, the anti-screwworm campaign had one last good chance of stopping them at a narrow isthmus in southern Mexico—after which the funnel grows dramatically wider. It failed. The latest screwworm detections in Oaxaca and Veracruz are just beyond the isthmus.

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[–] skozzii@lemmy.ca 36 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Gold thing we have the most incompotent administration in history to deal with this one.

[–] sugarfoot00@lemmy.ca 6 points 5 days ago

The USDA was certainly not spared the doge axe, they closed offices all along what will soon be the battlefront in this war.

[–] Wahots@pawb.social 6 points 6 days ago

We need to send them down there, the leaders need to see things firsthand in the screwworm swamps.

[–] alphacyberranger@sh.itjust.works 29 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Anybody who wants more info on this can watch this video https://youtu.be/zxq60I5RSW8

[–] SalmiakDragon@feddit.nu 5 points 6 days ago

From the one and only Kurzgesagt

[–] _AutumnMoon_@lemmy.blahaj.zone 26 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] Ledericas@lemm.ee 20 points 6 days ago

A worm that screws you

[–] termaxima@programming.dev 17 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Turns out the worms don’t care about borders, and we shouldn’t have stopped at an imaginary line to save a few bucks.

[–] Squizzy@lemmy.world 9 points 5 days ago

It was a very well run and thought out practical plan, it was also cut by doge in breeding season.

[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 4 points 5 days ago

Rather go back to the bird flu please.

[–] flango@lemmy.eco.br 6 points 6 days ago

New rfk jr companions (possibly NSFW)

https://youtu.be/kswcYfOtosk

[–] Anonymaus@feddit.org 0 points 6 days ago

Oh no, anyway

[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world -3 points 6 days ago

Goodbye US dairy and meat industry. Hope it collapses US agriculture.

[–] Witchfire@lemmy.world 134 points 1 week ago (3 children)

The brainworm is calling its allies

[–] RobertPulson@lemmy.world 49 points 1 week ago (11 children)

ahh yes the Pestilence is in good form but my money is on famine, even though a parlay on war and death together has a big payday. Make your bets folks, scared money don't make money.

[–] Wahots@pawb.social 2 points 6 days ago

Pestilence, TACO Don and the Ketamine Kid. Just waiting on the fourth horseman. This is shaping up to be an amazing year. :p

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[–] oce@jlai.lu 61 points 1 week ago (5 children)

So why is the "wall" not working anymore? Do we have a scientific explanation?

[–] seaplant@slrpnk.net 92 points 1 week ago (2 children)

How screwworms managed to jump the barrier in 2022 is not fully clear. But in the years immediately before, the coronavirus pandemic reportedly created supply-chain snarls at the fly factory in Panama and disrupted regular cattle inspections that might have set off the alarm bells earlier.

Still, the screwworm advanced relatively slowly through Panama and Costa Rica for the first couple of years.

800,000 cattle a year are raised illegally in nature reserves [in Central America] and then smuggled by boat and truck up to Mexico. This allowed the screwworm to spread much faster than it can fly [beginning in 2024]. The line of new screwworm cases followed known smuggling routes

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[–] wanderwisley@lemm.ee 56 points 1 week ago

Don’t worry fam we got the best team on this situation with the best leadership…and…oh shit never mind.

[–] SassyRamen@lemmy.world 50 points 1 week ago (1 children)

RFK Jr "Yall hear a new worm just dropped! Gawd damn gotta get me one!" (Insert jackhammered freak shake voice)

[–] edwardbear@lemmy.world 19 points 6 days ago (4 children)

you are the first person that I’ve seen to finally mention his voice. Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with his entire vocal box?? How can a person, any person, listen to RFK Jr for any period of time, and think to himself “This person seems to know a lot about health”???

[–] TheRealKuni@midwest.social 21 points 6 days ago (1 children)

you are the first person that I’ve seen to finally mention his voice. Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with his entire vocal box??

I think most people don’t talk about it because there are plenty of things to complain about with RFK Jr, we don’t have to resort to ableism.

He has a condition called spasmodic dysphonia. Legendary NPR interviewer Diane Rehm also suffered from this condition, which eventually ended her radio career.

I could be wrong, but I don’t think it’s because of his terrible health decisions. It happens to some people.

[–] edwardbear@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Apologies, I never intended to sound ableist. I see now how my comment came across.

[–] TheRealKuni@midwest.social 3 points 6 days ago

I didn’t think you meant to, and I wasn’t trying to be accusatory. It’s a pretty fair assumption to think he messed himself up, judging by his…colorful habits.

[–] Tryenjer@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

It's the worms talking for him. He's like that guy from Nightmare before Christmas.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 6 days ago (2 children)

All you need to do is look at the man... His face looks like an old catcher's mitt

[–] lagoon8622@sh.itjust.works 5 points 6 days ago

Popped American football lookin ass

[–] sugarfoot00@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 days ago

A balloon full of jam

[–] YesButActuallyMaybe@lemmy.ca 5 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

If you do heroine for 15 years like RFK jr did then you’ll suffer actual brain damage which will make you sound like that. Spasmodic dysphonia my ass, maybe shouldn’t have taken all that H eh? His brain worm was keeping the lights on, that dude gave way better advice than the human taco shell that is RFK jr

[–] milkisklim@lemm.ee 47 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Just in time for the new Kurtzgesagt video about them

there's also a more in-depth video by tom scott on a similar type of problem with an almost identical solution

[–] mjhelto@lemm.ee 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

There is already one or you're expecting one soon?

[–] milkisklim@lemm.ee 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] mjhelto@lemm.ee 3 points 6 days ago

Someone posted it down below. I just hadn't seen that comment, yet. Thank you for providing a link!

[–] cygnus@lemmy.ca 40 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Ooh here she comes... Watch out boys, she'll chew you up!

[–] Prime_Minister_Keyes@lemm.ee 3 points 6 days ago

She only comes out at night, though.

[–] XiberKernel@lemmy.world 35 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Hey Canadians, you guys still have science up there, right? I got a two-four of Molson or Labatt for ya if you can lend your continental neighbors a hand. Don’t do it for the US, but help out Mexico eh?

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