As New World screwworm returns to the US, a new dashboard tracks the risk

The New World screwworm, a flesh-eating pest that once devastated U.S. livestock, is spreading north again. Phys.org reports that after being eradicated from the United States and driven south to Panama in the nineteen-fifties, the pest has reached Texas and New Mexico. During its endemic period, the screwworm cost livestock producers in the Southwest between fifty million and one hundred million dollars annually. It now threatens livestock, wildlife, and people.

Listen to this story

Hear this and more stories in a personalized audio briefing.

Open The Chonkerton