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A flesh-eating parasite long considered eradicated from the United States has reemerged in South Texas, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins warned Sunday, noting that ranchers face a “really scary time” as officials work to contain the outbreak.
“We’ve got eyes on the cattle in South Texas. Once we spot it, we can solve for it, which is why it’s so important to report this,” Rollins told “The Big Weekend Show.”
Rollins’ remarks come as two confirmed cases of the New World screwworm, a parasitic fly that feeds on living tissue of warm-blooded animals, have raised concerns about the consequences of earlier open-border policies and illicit cattle movement.
“We’ve got to beat it back… south of the border, back across the Darién Gap and eradicate this forever, and we’re doing that,” Rollins added.
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“We’re building all of the infrastructure to make sure that will happen.”
Rollins tied the development to the Biden administration’s lax border policies, which she said allowed the parasite to inch closer to the U.S. southern border in 2021 and 2022, pointing to the Mexican cartel and cattle movement for “break[ing] the Darién Gap.”
“Of course, the last administration didn’t do one thing about it,” she said.
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“When we walked in early last year, someone presented me with all of this, and they said, ‘All of the models are showing it will be in America by last summer,’ and I said, ‘Well, we’ve got to do everything we can to contain it, keep it out, and prepare to the point that if it does hit, we’re going to be ready,’ and that’s where we are today.“
Sterile flies, which mate with female screwworms, are the “only way to defeat” the spread, Rollins said, adding that roughly 10 million sterile flies are being “dropped” per week in Texas.
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Affected animals, however, are expected to be fine and the food supply will not be affected, she added, noting the screwworm is not a virus. Rollins also said the risk to humans is historically low and dismissed concerns for Americans.
“If you have a gaping wound and you’re moving through in the caravans, then some humans not in America have been affected, but it won’t affect our country and humans.”