RGV leaders educate the public about New World screwworm

WESLACO, Texas - In an effort to educate and inform the public, the county judges from Hidalgo, Starr, Willacy and Cameron counties held a joint press conference about the New World screwworm. 

The press conference took place Monday, May 18 at the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council offices in Weslaco.

The county judges present were Richard Cortez of Hidalgo, Eddie Treviño, Jr., of Cameron, Eloy Vera of Starr, and Aurelio ‘Keter’ Guerra of Willacy.

Joining them were experts and representatives from state agencies and partner organizations that will be on the front lines of the response should a case arise in Texas. Participating agencies included the Texas Animal Health Commission, the Department of State Health Services, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas Farm Bureau, Texas Veterinary Medical Association, and the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.

The New World screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivorax) is a parasitic fly whose larvae feed on the living tissue of warm-blooded animals, including livestock, pets, wildlife, and, in rare cases, humans. The parasite has recently spread north through Central America into Mexico and continues to move toward the southern United States.

The press conference provided information on how to recognize potential cases, the steps being taken to prepare for its possible arrival, and the coordinated response efforts that will be implemented if a case is detected.

Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:00

They've given us here today. You know, when we recently met with these agencies and learned more about the situation, one thing became very clear to us that we really needed all our communities to know that in order for them to prepare themselves, we needed to know that they had accurate information available to them, and that you all would understand that preparedness is already underway. That is why the four county judges came together and agreed that really the best approach was to hold a joint press conference and to have all our key partners here in this room unified in our commitment really to protecting our people, our businesses, even our pets, and of course the agricultural community here in the Rio Grande Valley. We wanted the public to know that this is not just being handled by one agency or one county. It's really a coordinated effort between all of us here in the entire region. The four counties of the Rio Grande Valley, Cameron, Denon, Sarr, and Lucy, are fully aligned on this issue. We are communicating regularly, we're sharing information, and we're making sure that our response is consistent across all of the valley. We are working closely with the state agencies leading this effort. They bring the expertise and guidance all over local level. We stand ready to support this efforts and to act quickly if needed. And I want to really emphasize something important. We're not waiting for a case to appear before we begin working together. That coordination has already taken place.

unknown 1:43

Conversations have already taken place.

SPEAKER_05 2:04

That happens because on coordination, cooperation, and commitment by working together. And the same spirit of cooperation exists today during the remote value today. But right now, the most important thing residents can do is to stay informed and stay aware. There are things that each one of you can do to help with this issue.

unknown 2:30

This is a regional library. Stay ahead of it.

SPEAKER_05 2:35

The confidence with the partnership that we've put together and the people working every day to protect our communities will do just fine.

unknown 2:44

Also, I want to thank my fellow county judges for coming together on this very important issue and showing that when it comes to protecting the rebranding value, it's Cam United.

SPEAKER_05 2:55

So with that, I turn it over to Stark County Judge Eloy Bella, who will continue the conversation on what this means to all of our communities. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 3:13

Good morning. First of all, thank y'all for being here this morning to listen to uh what we have uh discussed. Uh I'm honored to be here today standing alongside my friends and partners from the neighboring communities, especially the state agencies, county judges, and of course the media and the public. Throughout the years we've maintained a close working relationship uh amongst the counties, and together we have faced and overcome many challenges affecting our region. I'm proud to say that once again we are united and committed to doing everything necessary to keep our community safe. I do want to stress that we don't want to cause any panic or anything like that. As was stated before me, this is something that has not yet reached us, but we want to be ready and prepared in case it does reach us. And the reason we're so concerned is that there's several factors that the valley is favorable for. One, of course, is the climate. The fly is supported by the climate that we have. We also have ranching and livestock operations are widespread throughout our communities. We have cross-border crossing of animal movement, wildlife. You know, we do have quite a bit of wildlife in our communities, and an outbreak could potentially occur if preventive maintenance is not done. There are several factors that we need to be concerned about. One is has been stated before me, educating the community, educating uh anybody that has a pet, uh, that works with cattle, uh, anything, they need to be educated on the system. Uh and then, of course, we have the sterile fly operation that I believe Dr. Leindecker uh alluded to. And the most important thing is we need to keep abreast of surveillance and trapping of flies uh along the valley. Uh we strongly recommend that pet owners remain alert as the dogs and cats untreated could lead to infestation of this flies. For our communities, the issue becomes personal because many families interact with animals every day, whether through ranching, farming, pets, 4-H projects, or just daily living. A simple untreated cut, wound, or surgical site on an animal can become an entry point for screw worm infestation. So again, you know, we want to keep everyone informed if you see anything that might be suspected of being an infestation of a screw worm. Uh, either let the biologists, the veterinarians, the game wardens, uh, our emergency management teams are also on top of this thing. So let any of us know, and we will certainly take try to take care of the situation as soon as we can. Again, thank you all so much. Next to speak is County Judge from Windsey County, Judge Gavin.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

Good morning, everyone. Um, so we had kind of uh had different assignments so that we don't become repetitious up here. Mine is what happens if we don't take it serious, right? Well, what can happen is actually it can affect our local economy. As you know, there's there's monies, transactions every day having to do with livestock, whether it's livestock shows or basically uh showing your livestock or selling them. And so, as you know, Willis County is very rural. We have residents that have livestock in their backyards, perhaps even in the front yard, and then we have big ranches, not only hundreds of thousands of acres, but thousands of acres, and then some that are smaller. And so, as you can imagine, there's practically it's very difficult for these uh ranches to be able to keep an eye on these livestocks uh day in and day out. So it does affect our economy. Uh, I think one of the things that we can do to try and prevent this from getting serious is that we get educated, that we know exactly what we're looking for, and moreover, is that you follow through with if you happen to see uh the live eye or the uh the maggots in a woman. I know that there's gonna be different numbers out there that you can call, and so I urge everybody to stay on the lookout. Also, very important is that if you happen to see this, right, and don't assume that because you're one of the first ones that's witnessing this, is that, well, I haven't heard the local channels of this thing getting dear to the valley. Well, you might be one of the first ones, so record it. Don't take it to chance. Uh the other is that uh one of the things that I also want to uh bring up is that we're emphasizing urgency, but also without sounding alarming. Okay, and that is the challenge right now, is that even though we have all these resources here present today, is that we need to make sure that this thing doesn't come before us and spread, because then our resources will be stretched and it'll be more a lot more costly prevented and while at the same time affecting our local economy.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Good morning.

SPEAKER_06 9:56

Howdy.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

All right, just for that, welcome. Howdy, everybody, good morning. My name is Eddie Peterbing Jr. and I'm proud to serve as Scammer County Judge. I'm here with my colleagues, uh, the fellow county judges, all of the state officials, representatives, uh, obviously to discuss this very critical and crucial issue. Uh I'll try not to be uh repetitive, but I was asked to kind of sum up what my three fellow county judges had discussed, and also what the state officials, Dr. Leindecker and Dr. Emily Pro, mentioned before us, along with uh Eric Gotza from the Parks and Wildlife Department. We have, unfortunately, we have a history of working together. The pandemic proved that by working together, local, state, and federal agencies could band together to do everything possible to protect the people that we are test to protect, represent, and make sure are safe. A lot of people, I'm sure, as we grow from more agricultural area to a more urban area, may not have these concerns with regards to this New World Screwworm. Raise your hand if you'd ever heard of New World Screw screw worm up until the most recent uh couple of weeks and months. Exactly. Some of you in the room may have heard about it, but the public at large uh has not and probably still does not, which is why the four of us, along with our state agencies, felt it critical that we would conduct uh some kind of mass media to get the word out. Obviously, we're our hope is that today's press conference, in addition to uh social media posts afterwards, will help inform the public of the seriousness of this particular issue. And I wanted to assure the public that they should have the utmost confidence in the collaboration and coordination between our local counties and cities with our state and federal agencies. Our state agencies and federal, they are on top of this. Uh it's unfortunate that the this particular uh screw worms through the flying has uh approached at that 60 to 80 mile uh location, and our our goal is obviously to make sure that it doesn't get any closer. Uh but we know of the recipes, what needs to be done, and uh we're doing everything that possibly can to do that. Uh these plans, uh as it was said earlier, the Panama uh manufacturing plant for the sterile applies uh is a little bit behind schedule. Uh the plant and manufacturing that they've uh initiated and are in a production in Edinburgh, we feel is going to be a huge, huge asset. Uh obviously, uh we would like to have that in place before uh the school room got to its current location. But in any event, these are proactive actions that the state and the federal government in coordination with our locals are making sure that we're doing everything we possibly can. We need to make sure that if you think you may not be affected, uh rest assured that that's not necessarily the case, and you've heard from the other county judges and other officials why that might be. You need to make sure that you monitor the animals closely, not just agricultural, cattle, etc., but your your local animals. Uh pay attention and notify of any suspicions immediately if you see any open wounds. Obviously, that is a major concern. You need to report those, and you need to also follow the trusted sources, which are the agencies, individuals that you're hearing from today going forward. The COVID pandemic was a very good example of what occurs when we work together. Obviously, uh our preference would have been never to have had to band together to work together to save lives during the pandemic, but that that experience proved and showed us that when working together, uh, we can make sure that the people that we're tasked to protect are well guarded and provided for. Unity, readiness, education, and forming, if all of us do our part, both individually and collectively, then we'll be able to make sure that any impact, negative or otherwise, from this New World rule will be minimized and we can keep it at a minimum harm. Uh we do not want our livestock becoming infected. Uh, in addition to everything else going on in the world, we don't want to worry about our food sources. So thank you all for joining us here this afternoon. This morning, excuse me. It's been a long weekend. Uh next to joining us will be from the Texas Veterinary Medical Association, Dr. Pancho Hubert.

SPEAKER_06 15:03

First of all, I'd like to start out by saying that it's such a privilege to be up here and be able to talk in front of the people of South Texas about such an important disease, such as New World Screwworms. Uh, my name is Dr. Pancho Hubert. I'm a veterinarian president of the Texas Veterinarian Medical Association, which represents the interests of more than 13,000 veterinarians and licensed veterinary technicians. My colleagues have provided a lot of good information this morning about what New World Screwworm means for livestock, wildlife, and public health. I am here to talk about pets. New World Screwworms is not just a livestock problem. Dogs and cats are susceptible to, and where the most recent cases nearest the Texas border was found in the dog. We want the public to know that this is not a reason for panic, but that we must all play our part in the New World Screwworms response. Pet owners should be vigilant about wounds on dogs and cats. They should watch for any unusual swelling, discharge, foul odors, or behavioral changes like excess tiredness and loss of appetite. If you see anything unusual, please call your veterinarian right away. Do not attempt to treat the infestation at home. Several treatments have been approved by federal agencies and new tools are being developed. But there is no safe home remedy. New works through worms requires professional diagnosis and treatment. Transporting animals, whether livestock or pets, is a primary driver of how this pest invades new areas. This is why vigilance at the border and awareness among pet owners in this region matters so much. Texas veterinarians have been preparing for the arrival of the New World Shrewm with people along with all these other groups. Veterinarians across the state, including those here in the Rio Gran Valley, have been receiving training on what to look for and what to do if they see a suspected case. We know that newborn animal navels or belly buttons are a primary place for infestation to occur, which is something both livestock producers and pet owners should keep at the top of their mind. Early detection and response are critical not only to our individual patients, but to our livestock industries and economy as well. The veterinary community is working closely with state and federal agencies to prepare for the new worms, New World Screwworm. In-person, veterinary care is essential here. This is not something that can be diagnosed over the phone or even on a video visit. If you're concerned about your animal, your veterinarian needs to see it. We are standing to do our part. For you, our message is simple. Keep an eye on your pets, clean and cover wounds, and call your veterinarian immediately if something looks wrong. And with that, I'd like to turn things over to Freddie Nieto from the Texas Southwestern Caval Raising Association. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 18:19

Good morning, everybody. How y'all doing? I hope y'all aren't asleep yet. Thank you, guys. It's extremely important that we're here today. My name is Freddie Neto. I'm a director for Tech Southwest Cattle Ridge Association. I'm also a general manager of the HBO South Ranch in Winnes County. There's two things before I start talking, there's two things I want to tell you. If you leave here today, just two things. Number one is misinformation. Misinformation on social media or whatever is just as bad as us and I do intervenants on this thing. It's important that we spread correct information on this. Number two, this is not a food safety issue. This is a food production issue. Okay? I want y'all to remember that. Your meat, it's clean, it's safe. This is a food production issue. Okay? So take that home with you if you just fall asleep as I start speaking. Please, those two things. And one of y'all made a correct statement. There are no cases confirmed in Texas as of today, that we know. As of today. Okay. TSCRA has been monitoring the northward spread of the New World School Room since March of 2024. And has worked on ensuring producers are receiving the most up-to-date information since the first confirmed case in Mexico in November of 2024. Our focus is twofold. Number one, to ensure that we protect the U.S. beef supply by pushing the pets back to the Derrick Gap. And secondly, to ensure cattle raisers are prepared and informed about the New World Screw Orm. Our most immediate focus in the initial months that New World Screw Orm was moving northward in Mexico was to increase sterile fly production and dispersal. To date, there is one fully operational production facility and two under construction. You alluded to the facility in Panama or Copec. The Copec facility in Pacora, Panama is at full capacity right now, producing 100 million flies per week. The USDA jointly manages this facility alongside the Panamanian officials. 100 million flies per week. That's exactly what we needed to keep it south of the Daring Gap in Central America. Back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, when they understood and invented the sterile fly, we had up to, correct me if I'm wrong, Dr. I remember, five, six hundred million flies, 700 million flies what it took to push it out of Texas through Mexico back to the Darien Gap. And if I'm not mistaken, I believe that took about 30 years. Correct, about 30 years to do. The USDA is investing $21 million to help renovate and convert an existing fruit fly facility in Metapa, Mexico. Once complete, the facility is expected to produce an additional 60 to 100 million sterile flies per week. With continued support from APHIS technical experts, Mexico expects production to begin as early as this summer out of this plant in Metapa. As of April 17th, construction is underway with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. For a domestic sterile fly production facility in Edinburgh, like Moorefield Air Base, with a projected capacity of 300 million sterile flies per week. This will be the only U.S.-based sterile fly production facility.

unknown 22:16

In August of 2025, USDA committed 700 money.

SPEAKER_04 22:22

I want to give you all uh a number here. According to USDA, a screw worm outbreak, roughly the scale of the one in 1976, could cost Texas producers $732 million a year, and the Texas economy a loss of $1.8 billion today. Big number. In April 2025, AFUS agreed to partner with Cenecica to construct a permanent sterile fly dispersal facility in Tuxla, Gutiérrez, Chiapas, Mexico. The facility has the capacity to disperse 100 million sterile flies per week. Sterile pupae are transported from the CopEg production facility in Panama, hatched into adult flies at this site, and then released into target areas across southern Mexico to support screw worm eradication efforts. In November of 2025, USDA opened a sterile fly dispersal facility in Tapico, Mexico. This facility allows USDA to disperse sterile flies aerially across northeastern Mexico, including in Nuevo León. Construction is complete on the sterile fly dispersal facility. And when I talk, I don't want y'all to get confused. A production facility looks different than a dispersal facility. The dispersal facilities receive the pupae from the only plant producing sterile flies, which is in Panama. They receive them at the dispersal facilities, they finish growing them out and then moving them off. Each week, TSCRA staff have direct contact with USD officials on the New World Screwworm situation. USDA has recently stood up a webpage dedicated to the New World Screwworm situation updates, which can be found at schoolworm.gov. This site is updated each week on Thursday afternoons with a new case information for Mexico and the status on the sterile flight dispersal and production facilities in both the U.S. and Mexico. The U.S. State Department in December, our cattle our cattle parasite committee, which I chair that committee and Mr. Edward Burdowski sitting here in the second row, vice chairs it, that is extremely important that deals with these foreign pests coming in from foreign countries. We met with officials from Central America and Mexico for a roundtable discussion and handling screw worm on the producer level. We were able to hear directly from the COPEC officials as well. I talk about the producer level because I don't care if you got a bunch of cows on a ranch or if you got three dogs in your backyard. If you got three dogs in your backyard, you're still the producer and you keep an eye on the health of those animals. So that's that's really important to think about. Reporting from Cenecica has greatly improved from the first incursion of the flyer. This is largely attributed to USDA building those relationships. Does everybody know what Cinecica is? It's important you know that. They're kind of equivalent to USDA in Mexico. Keeping the border close to livestock and bison imports and emphasizing the importance of accurate reporting. USDA is receiving more regular data on active and inactive cases, which has enabled our ability to prepare. You hear me talk about USDA a lot, Texas Animal Health Commission, Texas Parks and Wildlife, the state agencies are working hand in hand with them in developing a lot of the movement forward. So hands off to Texas Animal Health Commission, Texas Parks and Wildlife. TSCRA trusts USDA and Secretary Brooke Rollins are doing their best to ensure domestic cattle herds are protected. Until there are more stern flies being produced, TSCA supports the border closure to livestock imports and trusts USDA's approach. While we understand the short-term implication of this, the long-term impact on our herd health is more crucial. For now, the border closure is a tool needed to keep the fly out of the U.S. There are over 12 million head of cattle in the state of Texas. We're the largest cattle producing state in the nation. And getting this in our herds, you know, is is and taking care of it pretty fast is extremely important. Those of you, I don't care if you're raising oranges in South Texas, if you're growing grain, raising cattle, or you have wildlife. We're all familiar with these biological outbreaks. We live pretty close, right, to a border. And and uh my hats off to you, to those who do that, because it's it's not on the television or on social media every day. You put your boots on, you tighten your belt, and you deal with these things quietly, and we move forward through it. The reason this is a big issue now, because any warm-blooded mammal can have this, from a person to a dog, even birds, you know. Uh so it's it's extremely important. We're still very greatly concerned over the wildlife surveillance across the border. What does that mean? Well, they're doing, starting to do a good job on cattle surveillance, but wildlife are just as important to monitor, and uh as of today, there's really no treatments for them, but uh they give you a good hand of where this thing's hanging out at. I'm gonna give y'all my glass half-full look on this. I've got an eight-year-old father who dealt with his 50s, 60s, and 70s. And uh, you know, there were different tools available back then, probably limited. Everything was labor, hard labor. And uh he he said, I don't know how you're gonna do it. He says, you know, that's that's what he tells me. But we have to be optimistic. The sky's not falling, but we have to work together. This is not a one organization, a one producer, a one county situation. This is a team effort, you know, and and everybody, everybody has to take part in spreading in spreading the correct information. There's three things, probably a three-legged stool. You have education and awareness, which I think we're doing a pretty good job of that here today. You have treatment, which livestock, dogs, cats, you can treat, right? Then you have eradication. Eradication, how important it is for some of these folks who are talking about if you see something, don't be afraid to report it. If we catch our first case and we find it pretty quick, immediately it's reported, and if it's confirmed, there will be an array of sterile flies spread in that area. That's we they didn't have that uh back in the in the 50s. They just had treatment, right? They didn't have that. We have that today. So I'm I'm uh pretty confident that it's not gonna be easy, but but we're gonna get to this. There's so much precedence in this issue uh back uh from from our forefathers, but uh I truly believe that everybody's gonna strap on their boots and their belt and get through this together. I want to thank you for your time, and uh there's nobody else behind me, so I don't get to introduce anybody. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 29:53

At this time, Erin Robinson with the Texas Animal Health Commission will lead our media QA. Thank you all so much, and thank you so much for being here. I want to thank how many judges for welcoming the state agencies here today. Um, this is such a multifaceted issue, as all of you have heard, um, and it really is going to take all of us pulling the rope in the same direction, from all of the people you see sitting up here to everybody at home who owns animals, who watches wildlife, who feats of wildlife. So we just want to thank you all for being on board with this. Um, thanks, great points. With the misinformation, it is so critical that good information gets shared on this topic. So, as you see today, there are um some good brochures out there with um Texas Animal Health Commission information, and our great partners are linked on our website that is available on those forms. So feel free to reach out to any of us if you need any more resources or any more information. At this time, we're gonna go ahead and enter into a QA. So, if anybody has any questions, we'll direct those to this pertinent party questions.

SPEAKER_06 31:01

You guys you said that you were helpful for the collaboration that the impact level would be on the minimal.

unknown 31:07

What does minimal impact actually mean?

SPEAKER_01 31:10

Minimal impact means zero impact. Uh, but we need to be realistic. You just heard from the experts uh with regard to this particular situation.