A flesh-eating human parasite is spreading across Central America—and U.S. officials are concerned.
The New World screwworm, which was once a massive issue in the U.S. and Central America during the early 1900s, is rapidly spreading throughout Central America. This parasite burrows into the skin through open wounds, causing sometimes fatal infestations and secondary infections.
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According to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), “New World screwworm (NWS, Cochliomyia hominivorax) is a devastating pest of livestock.” Though they are not currently in the U.S.—they were eradicated in the 1960s and 1980s, LiveScience reported—there is reason to believe they might soon make a comeback.
“NWS maggots can infest livestock and other warm-blooded animals, including people,” APHIS reported. “They most often enter an animal through an open wound or mucous membranes and feed on the animal’s living flesh.”
Basically, these larvae eat their hosts from the inside out…Sounds like something out of a horror movie.
A screwworm infestation can be fatal if left untreated. But even so, according to the CDC, there’s no approved treatment other than removing the larvae.
Right now, “NWS is endemic in Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and countries in South America,” APHIS wrote. “Since 2006, the United States and Panama have maintained a barrier zone in eastern Panama intended to prevent NWS from moving north from South America to screwworm-free areas in Central and North America. However, since 2023, cases have been increasing in number and spreading north from Panama to Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and now Mexico.”
To hopefully prevent the spread of screwworms into the U.S., “APHIS is currently restricting the import of livestock, including equines, into the United States from Mexico, pending further information from Mexican veterinary authorities on the size and scope of the infestation.”
