TEPHI wastewater viral levels
- COVID (SARS CoV-2) levels in Texas are low and declining
- MPox levels are low and relatively flat – neither increasing nor declining
- The usual respiratory viruses (Influenza A&B, Human Metapneumovirus, RSV) are decreasing – typical for the summer. Adenovirus B respiratory virus levels are high but falling
- Norovirus and Rotavirus, both causes of severe diarrheal illness, are at medium levels and falling
Screwworm Fly Parasitosis
- Screwworm is the parasitic maggot of the Screwworm Fly
- The flies are attracted to any open wound on mammals – even small injuries such as tick bites
- Wildlife and farm animals are most often affected; humans who work outside and have any superficial injury are advised to cover injuries to protect them from the flies that may lay hundreds of eggs in a single wound
- Unlike the maggots of common houseflies that eat only dead tissue (a process called Facultative myiasis), the screwworm maggots invade and destroy healthy tissue
- Screwworms can also create overwhelming bacterial infections – I hate it when that happens 🙁
- Screwworm was eradicated from the US decades ago with a program of releasing sterile male flies which interrupted the flies’ reproductive cycle
- Since then, the flies have remained endemic in Panama and have been moving northward since at least 2022
- By 2023, the flies had crossed the Darien Gap, and are now established throughout Central America
- The cases of screwworm recently identified have been in South Texas.
- Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic long used in Veterinary medicine, can be added to cattle feed to protect livestock from this scourge
- Screwworm “baits” are attractants that lure the flies to their deaths. These baits may have untoward environmental effects including the destruction of benign species.
My commentary: It is tempting to lay this screwworm outbreak at the feet of the Trump administration. After all, Trump and his DOGE morons killed USAID, have grievously wounded the CDC and FDA, abandoned the WHO, and generally shown themselves to be anti-science. However, this was a smoldering issue during the Biden administration, and it was ignored then. The Trump administration has also ignored it.
Our politicians have traded the safety of the environment and public health for another financial bonanza intended to coddle the most privileged among us. Such trade-offs must eventually be paid. And this outbreak of screwworm is part of that payment. The rise in agricultural costs and thus food costs are another part of the payment. Alas!