A fly with wound-gnawing larvae is repopulating after decades of progress to contain it.
Earth’s overheating could be partly why the insect is returning perilously close to the American border with catastrophic potential, according to a Grist report.
What’s happening?
The aptly named screwworm fly is beginning to turn up in Panama, southern Mexico, and elsewhere on a northward path. The insects are about the size of a housefly with orange eyes and metallic blue or green bodies, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
An adult screwworm, drawn to open injuries and body openings like nasal passages, can produce up to 300 eggs. Once hatched, the maggots tear at flesh, screwing into and expanding wounds with sometimes deadly results. The remedy is to remove the villains.
If the flies make it stateside, experts fear it could result in billions of dollars worth of livestock and trade losses, reported Grist.
“It is vital that Congress act to pass this legislation to protect our farmers and ranchers and prevent an outbreak in the U.S.,” New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján, a Democrat and member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, told Grist.
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Why are the fly sightings important?
It’s a sign that work started in the 1950s to contain the fly might not be working anymore.
Experts interviewed by Grist point to our planet’s warming and severe storms, which NASA said are symptoms of the overheating, as possible reasons for its migration.
“And if there’s more major storms, could that potentially lead to more of these upward trajectories of the fly?” veterinarian Bridget Baker, who is also an assistant professor at the University of Florida, said in the article.
Earth has warmed about two degrees Fahrenheit since 1850 as dirty energy use exploded, according to government data. While that might not seem like a big jump, it’s being felt by record-setting heat waves each year around the planet, making some places too hot to live, per NASA.
But screwworms, mosquitoes, and other pests are taking advantage of the expanding heat. And UF is warning farmers to be on the lookout for these terrible menaces. The government has suspended livestock imports from Mexico to prevent fly stowaways.
To originally purge the insect from Florida, a mid-century project sterilized male flies with radiation and released them to breed. The method helped to reduce reproduction and was perfected during the decades, culminating in the formation of a “screwworm” wall in the mid-1990s near the Panama-Colombia border. Sterilized males are still regularly released, Grist reported.
About two decades later, a rare deer herd in Florida suffered from an infestation. The government responded quickly to knock down the threat. But more buzzing is on the horizon as temperatures continue to trend upward. The insect typically thrives at 45 degrees Fahrenheit and higher, the story added.
What’s being done to stop the spread?
Luján told Grist that he is pushing for $300 million in government funding for sterile fly production. You can add your voice to the advocacy by contacting your local lawmakers about advancing planet-friendly policies and by staying tuned in to issues impacting Earth’s health.
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