US fast-tracks drugs and grants to stop cattle-threatening screwworm

A parasite that can hollow out livestock wounds is now pulling the U.S. response machine into overdrive, with federal officials fast-tracking drugs and grant money as they try to keep New World screwworm from turning ranch losses into a broader food-security shock. The test is not just whether the government can contain six confirmed U.S. detections in Texas and New Mexico, but whether months of preparation are enough when the threat is already pressing against cattle markets, border trade and emergency spending.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said it had been preparing since early last year with animal-health companies, state livestock officials, farm groups and other federal agencies. That effort was first laid out publicly as a five-pronged strategy in June 2025, then expanded in August 2025 as the agency rolled out what it called its largest initiative yet to confront the pest’s northward spread. On January 21, 2026, USDA launched the New World Screwworm Grand Challenge, offering up to $100 million for projects aimed at sterile fly production, traps and lures, treatments and other response tools.

The response now runs through a One Health interagency working group co-led by USDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of the Interior, with the Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy and Department of Homeland Security also involved. USDA says it is dispersing 100 million sterile insects per week in Mexico and along the U.S.-Mexico border, and its current-status page says all southern ports of entry are closed to livestock trade.

USDA’s June 8 update reclassified a Texas dog case to Lea County, New Mexico, because the animal lived there. Officials said the case was being treated as possibly isolated, while they continued to inspect animals in the household, step up outreach in the area and prepare to release sterile insects if needed. A later update confirmed another Texas case in Gillespie County, bringing the total to six U.S. detections across Texas and New Mexico by June 9.

The economic threat is already clear. The Dallas Federal Reserve said beef prices had risen 57% since 2020 and 3% in the first four months of 2026, with the national cattle herd at a record low. It warned that a widespread Texas outbreak could cost billions and push prices even higher. That matters far beyond ranch country: screwworm can infest livestock, pets, wildlife, occasionally birds and, in rare cases, people, and a major outbreak would hit consumers already absorbing record beef prices and producers already strained by drought and tight supplies.

The deeper concern is whether the federal government’s planning window is closing faster than its capacity to act. USDA says screwworm re-emerged in previously pest-free regions starting in 2023, including all of Central America and Mexico, and officials have leaned heavily on the sterile insect technique that helped eradicate the pest from the United States before. This time, they are trying to move faster, spend earlier and stay ahead of a parasite that has already crossed the line from distant threat to live domestic test.