The discovery of screwworm in a Mexican cattle herd has closed the flow of cattle into the United States. Despite the concerns, USDA says officials there acted quickly.
According to Dr. Burke Healey, “The one infection that they found was a lot of 100 head that were moving north and were stopped at the checkpoint. There was one animal in that lot that was identified with screwworm infestation. They treated the entire lot of 100 head of animals and returned them to their farm of origin in southern Mexico. But, that is the only case that they’ve identified so far, and so obviously, they’re in the neighborhood, going around each of the farms with information, education, and inspections taking place in that area, in that region to see if there’s any additional cases that have taken place.”
Healey says that Mexico has the right systems in place to handle the situation.
“Mexico has put in a robust system. They’ve got multiple checkpoints that protect their southern border that they would utilize to find this particular case,” he explains. “So, we’re confident in their system and again working hand in hand with them to come up with a protocol to reestablish trade, as well as to work on that southern end of Mexico to try to establish a barrier down there and work to push the fly out of the country.”
Mexican and U.S. officials are working together and there is no word yet on when trade could resume.
