The US Has a Plan to Combat Screwworm. It Involves a Lot More Flies

Article excerpt

The U.S. is deploying an unusual weapon against screwworms, a parasitic fly that burrows into living flesh and causes severe wounds in livestock and wildlife, by releasing millions of sterilized male flies that mate with wild females, preventing reproduction and collapsing populations. The technique, called sterile insect technique, has worked before, but the country faces a critical bottleneck: the single facility producing sterilized screwworms operates at limited capacity. A recent outbreak in Texas has exposed how underprepared the nation is for a resurgence of this pest, which was declared eradicated from the U.S. in 1966.