Alarm as once-eradicated flesh-eating parasite found in calf in Texas

Larvae of the screwworm fly, collected from infected cows, are observed at the COPEG sterile fly production plant in Pacora, Panama, in 2025. Photograph: Enea Lebrun/Reuters

A flesh-eating parasite rarely seen in the US in six decades has been found in a calf in Texas, agriculture officials said, in an alarming development for the country’s cattle industry.

The new world screwworm fly (NWS) was confirmed in the animal in the south of the state, about 50 miles from the Mexico border, Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, said late on Wednesday.