New World screwworm alert

A parasite the US eliminated decades ago is back on the radar, and the clock starts the moment someone notices a “not quite right” wound. We sit down with Dr. Patrick Webb, Assistant Chief Veterinarian with the National Pork Board, to unpack what a confirmed New World screwworm case in southern Texas signals for pork producers and the wider livestock industry, and why early reporting beats waiting for certainty every time.

We walk through how a suspected case typically moves from farm observation to state notification, investigation, and lab confirmation, and what that process tells us about readiness right now. From there, we get practical about containment: unified command, the 20-km infested zone concept, and how disease control measures can affect movement, and day-to-day business continuity. Dr. Webb also points to proven tools, including the sterile fly approach, as part of a multi-layer response that can push the threat back again.

The biggest takeaway is simple and actionable: monitor your animals closely, tighten biosecurity, and keep communication open with your herd veterinarian and state animal health officials no matter what state you operate in. Summer conditions raise risk, and movement of infested animals is a key pathway, so fast action protects your herd and your neighbors. For clear guidance on what to look for and how to report, we share the best place to start: screwworm.gov.

If this conversation helps you think differently about surveillance, traceability, and outbreak preparedness, subscribe, share it with another producer, and leave us a review so more people find it when it matters.

Transcript

Confirmation And Investigation Timeline

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Joining us for World War Episode to discuss the current situation with New World Screw Dr. Patrick Webb, Assistant Chief Veterinarian for the National Park Board. So, Patrick, yesterday's announcement sounds like uh isolated incidents. Detail for us uh kind of the current situation and and the testing that was done and the and the timeline from farm to official detection.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

Yeah, I don't have all of the details. I have kind of what you've got uh related to it was uh confirmed in a CAF in southern Texas. Um and so uh, you know, basically uh it would what they would have done would have followed what uh a normal investigation would be for something that you suspect, like uh foot and mouth or classical soin fever. Uh states notified, which is the most important part, right? Early notification, they would have come out, they would have done the investigation, they would have submitted the samples to Ames, Iowa, and waited for a confirmation. Um, and so what that means is we've got our first detected case uh of uh New World Screwworm. Uh we had previously gotten rid of screwworm out of the United States uh back in the 60s, and so um while it's not unsurprising because

Containment Tools And Sterile Flies

SPEAKER_01 2:06

we've seen it been moving through Mexico, it's just unfortunate that it's here now. But it's not a hopeless situation because it's going to rely on producers and their vigilance working with their herd veterinarians to try to get all of this under control, and especially our state and federal animal health officials, and the work that they're gonna have to do and are doing right now is is paramount to containment.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Like you like you point out, it's not the first time we've been through this, and there's probably more options for for treatment than there were back then as well. And I know USDA has been doing some things with you know getting the sterile fly situation, and so there is preparation, so hopefully we we can nip this pretty quickly.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

It's gonna be a multi-faceted approach, right, to uh containing this and then eventually um getting it beat back like we did back in the 60s, and that's gonna take a little bit of work on the part of our state and federal animal health officials, but our producers are gonna play a huge role in that that preparedness side of it, especially with monitoring.

Infested Zone Rules And Movement

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Are there any pork producing operations right in that area where that uh that calf was found?

SPEAKER_01 3:13

I don't know the answer to that. I know that the the state is as USDA and the state have put in what we call a unified command, and they're using a 20-kilometer uh infested zone. And so it's going to take them a little bit of time to figure out who's in that infested zone. But it really boils down to if there are pork producers involved in in an infested zone or they're in Texas and there are uh states that may put on some disease control measures, we need to make sure that our producers uh are working with their herd veterinarians and the state to kind of understand what's the new rules. If I'm in an infected zone, what can I do, what can I do? If I'm outside of that zone, what can I do and what can I do? What if I gotta move pigs into Oklahoma? You know, what's the rules? They gotta rely on the herd veterinarian for that, and so that open communication is is vital to making sure our producers can maintain business continuity and understand what the new rules are.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

And what if I have barns in the zone and barns out of the zone, right? Now what do I do with employees that keep might be going back and forth, or how does that even work?

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Yeah, and and that's where uh for our producers, especially if they they were in a zone, uh, they need to be

Communication Gaps Producers Must Close

SPEAKER_01 4:22

working with the state animal health officials to understand the new rules. Right, right. So communications is the most important thing in one of these outbreaks, uh, and it's usually the first thing not to not to work. So we got to make sure that there's open lines of communications, and that and that's the producer's role is to ask those questions, work with the herd bet.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Biosecurity. Let's see.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Biosecurity, biosecurity, biosecurity. Doesn't it's not just for PERS anymore, right? I mean, this is uh all of these things are about keeping your herd healthy, and uh this is just another uh another incident that we have to factor into uh the health of our pigs and making sure that if we were in a fortunate situation that uh there was a herd affected, uh that we understand uh what the tools are to mitigate that and what the new rules are.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

So can uh North Carolina, Iowa, Kansas

Monitor Everywhere And Report Fast

SPEAKER_00 5:12

pork producers just not worry about it right now because it's isolated down in Texas? Or what's your words of wisdom to the whole pork industry in the U.S.?

SPEAKER_01 5:22

The words of wisdom is that I I don't care what state you're in right now, it it needs to be a priority that we're monitoring. Um of the biggest risk pathways for uh this particular parasite to move is on animals that are infested. And that's what we worried about in Mexico, and a lot of the movement was from movement of animals, and so um just because you're in Kansas or Iowa doesn't mean you're gonna be immune. And you know, might be a different story as far as risk level in the middle of winter in Iowa where the fly can't survive, but it is right moving into summer, and these these particular flies enjoy uh hot, humid weather. So uh I keep telling our producers that if you're observing your pigs and if you even have an inkling, just one hair on the back of your neck says, boy, I don't know, report it. Right. There's nothing bad that can happen if you report it. More times than not, it's not gonna be anything, but we can't let this thing get hold. We can't sit on our laurels, we've got to make sure that we're being observant and reporting and working with our herd veterinarians.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

And we just saw a perfect example of that with pseudo rabies on how the industry came to is still coming together, but just acted quickly and had a plan, and you know, we can see how well that

Biosecurity And Preparedness That Scales

SPEAKER_00 6:42

works when that uh when that kind of thing happens.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

It, you know, pseudo rabies has been uh you know eradicated from the commercial herd for an awful long time, and that is uh in part due to producers and biosecurity and successes there. Early detection again played a role. Uh fast response here in Iowa played a role, quick tracing, right? All of those things are important, and all those things that we work with our producers to make sure that they're prepared to do with AgView and our traceability, with secure pork supply and biosecurity, with certified swine samplers and collecting samples, all those things on a preparedness side will work for an ASF outbreak, or it could work for uh a New World Screwworm outbreak.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

So, National Pork Board, you've been following, you've been very vigilant on following a New World screw worm as it's spread through uh through Mexico and gotten closer and closer to the border, and of course now over the border. Any specific uh places that producers can go to get, say, more information or to stay in touch with what's going on and what you're learning?

SPEAKER_01 7:44

So uh New World, or excuse me, screwworm.govern is where we're pointing our producers because they have a very nice laid-out website that uh they've got information specific to producers, they got information specific to veterinarians, a lot of good information in there, what to look for, how to report it, and those type of things. And so we're pointing uh we're pointing them towards that resource that's already been built. There's other good resources that I'm sure will

Where To Get Updates And Next Steps

SPEAKER_01 8:12

have information out as well, but for now, um, if they take a stop at screwworm.gov, um they'll get the information that they need.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

But the most important thing, if you see something, if you suspect something, do report that.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Report it, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

Any final key takeaways or or thoughts you'd like to leave our audience with today?

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Well, just the importance of uh our everyday activities as pork producers and monitoring our herds, not just for new worm screw worm, but for other diseases. Um as you may know, our national swinehouse strategy that we're moving forward with is taking some pretty aggressive action against some of the diseases that we have, like PERS and PED. Um, but other priorities are still these emerging diseases and these foreign animal diseases, they're still important. And so for our pork producers out there, just expending the effort to remain vigilant, monitor the herds, and report if there's a problem.

Final Takeaways And Sponsor

SPEAKER_00 9:02

Very good. Thank you so much for your time today, Patrick. Our thanks to Dr. Patrick Webb for joining us here today. This episode of Feed Steps in Focus is sponsored by United Animal Health, a leader in animal health and nutrition. You can learn more about United Animal Health and how they're working to advance animal science worldwide by visiting their website at Unitedanatry.com. If you would like to hear more conversations about some of the big issues that I think animal feed industry, podcasting.