On Thursday, January 29, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a statewide disaster declaration to prevent the spread of the New World Screwworm (NWS) into the Lone Star State.
Currently, the NWS is spreading northward from Mexico, getting closer to the southern border of the United States.
The statement mentioned that “Although the New World Screwworm has not appeared in Texas or the United States, it is spreading from Mexico towards the southern border of the United States, posing a serious threat to Texas’ livestock industry and wildlife.”
The declaration authorizes the Texas NWS Response Team to “fully utilize all prevention and response resources of the state government to prevent the reappearance of this destructive parasite.”
The response team is comprised of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Animal Health Commission.
The governor stated, “State law authorizes me to take action to prevent pests from causing serious damage to Texas properties, and I will not stand by as this damage extends to our livestock and wildlife.”
The New World Screwworm feeds on living tissue of warm-blooded animals and has posed a serious threat to American livestock. It was eradicated in the 1960s but has recently resurged spreading north from Central and South America. In August 2025, Maryland confirmed the first human infection case in the United States, in a person who had traveled back from Guatemala and El Salvador.
Governor Abbott also mentioned that Texas officials are ready to completely eradicate this pest. He emphasized the collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to establish a $750 million “sterile New World Screwworm production facility” near Edinburg, Texas.
The United States previously used sterile insect technique in the 1960s to eradicate the New World Screwworm.
In August, the U.S. Department of Agriculture stated that the New World Screwworm is a devastating pest that “can infect livestock, pets, wildlife, occasionally birds, and in rare cases even humans, posing a threat not only to our livestock industry but also to our food supply and national security.”
On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security issued an announcement stating that the Office of Health Security, in coordination with the USDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Department of the Interior, conducted a simulation exercise earlier this month to defend against the New World Screwworm. This aims to strengthen the U.S.’s preparedness for emerging animal and public health threats, and improve coordination among agencies.
The announcement mentioned that the joint exercise involved 80 on-site participants and over 170 online participants, including decision-makers from federal, state, local, and tribal governments.