The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) of the United States has confirmed that a patient from the US state of Maryland has been diagnosed with a first and rare case of human infection of the New World screwworm after complaining of itchy and prolonged fresh wounds.
First patient to be infected with screwworm
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Maryland Department of Health said that the case was first brought up on August 4 after a patient, who remained unidentified, was brought to a hospital showing signs of long-term skin infections despite receiving treatments.
HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said that the patient had also traveled from El Salvador, with experts assuming that the larva originated from the Central American nation.
Despite the detection, Nixon assured that the infection could not be passed to another human nor animals and that the US public health system is not at risk.
Moreover, he said that the patient had already recovered and that the specimens were extracted for further studies.
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What is a screwworm?
The New World screwworm, or Cochliomyia hominivorax, is a parasitic blow fly common in the South American and Caribbean regions, whose larvae feed on live tissues of animals, unlike its counterpart in the Western hemisphere that usually consume tissue of dead animals.
The screwworm fly, known for its metallic blue color, lays its eggs on the fresh wounds of animals, usually livestock. Experts say a single female screwworm can lay between 200 to 300 eggs per day, which poses a risk to livestock industries across the Americas.
Race to protect US livestock
The US Department of Agriculture had been tasked to safeguard the livestock of the United States against the potential further spread of screwworms in the country.
One of the key solutions that the USDA has raised is to create a fly production facility in Texas that would be used to produce and shelter sterile screwworm flies to combat their numbers.
Federal and state officials have warned that if left uncontrolled, the swarm could cause massive devastation to US livestock as they could infect and kill cattle within a week or two.
The US government has also announced collaboration with their counterparts in Panama and Mexico to share knowledge in effectively controlling the population of screwworm, while another $100 million will be poured by the federal government into investing in modern equipment and techniques against screwworm.
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