Flesh-eating New World Screwworm could pose health risks to cattle, humans
A threat to American livestock – the New World Screwworm (NWS) fly, which has been considered eradicated from the country since 1966 — has reemerged as a potential danger following an outbreak in Mexico.
The news triggered a shutdown of cattle, horse and bison imports along the southern border, as U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins announced in an X post on Sunday.
"Due to the threat of New World Screwworm I am announcing the suspension of live cattle, horse, & bison imports through U.S. southern border ports of entry effective immediately," she wrote in the post.
Dangerous Fungus Could Spread To Parts Of Us, Researchers Claim
"The last time this devastating pest invaded America, it took 30 years for our cattle industry to recover. This cannot happen again."
The NWS is a fly that is endemic in Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and some South American countries, according to the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
Read On The Fox News App
While the flies themselves are found in forests and other wooded areas, they will seek hosts like cattle or horses in pastures and fields, per the above source.
A female fly lays eggs in a wound or orifice of a live, warm-blooded animal. The eggs then hatch into larvae (maggots) that burrow into the flesh, causing potentially deadly damage.
Measles Scare At Major Airport: What To Know About Potential Exposure
Screwworms are named for their maggots' behavior, as they burrow into the flesh similar to how a screw is driven into wood.
For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health
"Maggots cause extensive damage by tearing at the hosts' tissue with sharp mouth hooks," according to the APHIS website. This can then enlarge the wound and attract more flies to lay eggs.
In rare cases, the larvae can feed on people, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states.
These infestations can be very painful and can cause serious, potentially fatal damage to their hosts by causing myiasis, a parasitic infection of fly larvae in human tissue.
Screwworms are often found in South America and the Caribbean.
"People who travel to these areas, spend time among livestock animals, sleep outdoors and have an open wound are at greater risk of becoming infested with NWS," says the CDC.
People who are immunocompromised, very young or very old, or malnourished are also at a higher risk of infection, the above source stated.
Those who have had recent surgery are also at a higher risk, "as the flies will lay eggs on open sores," according to the CDC.
If another outbreak were to occur in the U.S., "pets, livestock, wildlife and even humans may suffer and die from screwworm myiasis," the USDA warned.
The USDA estimates that livestock producers in the southwestern U.S. lost between $50 million and $100 million annually due to NWS in the 1950s and 1960s until it was successfully eradicated.
Click Here To Sign Up For Our Health Newsletter
"Presumably, these higher losses in the Southwest were due to higher livestock populations, larger geographic area and/or greater potential for NWS to overwinter," stated the report.
While the USDA eradicated NWS in 1966, there was an outbreak contained within the Florida Keys in 2016. It affected only in the endangered deer population and was eradicated by March 2017, per APHIS.
Greg Wehner contributed reporting.Original article source: Flesh-eating New World Screwworm could pose health risks to cattle, humans
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
ChatGPT use linked to cognitive decline, research reveals
Relying on the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT to help you write an essay could be linked to cognitive decline, a new study reveals. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab studied the impact of ChatGPT on the brain by asking three groups of people to write an essay. One group relied on ChatGPT, one group relied on search engines, and one group had no outside resources at all. The researchers then monitored their brains using electroencephalography, a method which measures electrical activity. The team discovered that those who relied on ChatGPT — also known as a large language model — had the 'weakest' brain connectivity and remembered the least about their essays, highlighting potential concerns about cognitive decline in frequent users. 'Over four months, [large language model] users consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels,' the study reads. 'These results raise concerns about the long-term educational implications of [large language model] reliance and underscore the need for deeper inquiry into AI's role in learning.' The study also found that those who didn't use outside resources to write the essays had the 'strongest, most distributed networks.' While ChatGPT is 'efficient and convenient,' those who use it to write essays aren't 'integrat[ing] any of it' into their memory networks, lead author Nataliya Kosmyna told Time Magazine. Kosmyna said she's especially concerned about the impacts of ChatGPT on children whose brains are still developing. 'What really motivated me to put it out now before waiting for a full peer review is that I am afraid in 6-8 months, there will be some policymaker who decides, 'let's do GPT kindergarten,'' Kosmyna said. 'I think that would be absolutely bad and detrimental. Developing brains are at the highest risk.' But others, including President Donald Trump and members of his administration, aren't so worried about the impacts of ChatGPT on developing brains. Trump signed an executive order in April promoting the integration of AI into American schools. 'To ensure the United States remains a global leader in this technological revolution, we must provide our Nation's youth with opportunities to cultivate the skills and understanding necessary to use and create the next generation of AI technology,' the order reads. 'By fostering AI competency, we will equip our students with the foundational knowledge and skills necessary to adapt to and thrive in an increasingly digital society.' Kosmyna said her team is now working on another study comparing the brain activity of software engineers and programmers who use AI with those who don't. 'The results are even worse,' she told Time Magazine. The Independent has contacted OpenAI, which runs ChatGPT, for comment.
The Hill
3 hours ago
- The Hill
Vaccine advisers set to review ingredient in influenza shot
PRESENTED BY The Big Story Coming next week: The first meeting of RFK Jr.'s handpicked vaccine advisory panel. © Photo credit It's the first meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) since Kennedy fired all 17 members and appointed eight new panelists, several of whom are vocal vaccine critics. As part of its scaled-down two-day meeting beginning Wednesday, the committee is set to vote on influenza vaccines that contain thimerosal — an ingredient wrongly linked to autism. Kennedy has long advocated for banning thimerosal, a preservative that was widely used for decades in a number of biological and drug products, including many vaccines. In his 2014 book, Kennedy said thimerosal was 'toxic to brain tissue' and likely caused autism. Thimerosal, a compound that contains mercury, is used as a preservative to prevent harmful bacteria in multidose vials of vaccines. The compound has been largely phased out as manufacturers have shifted toward single-use vials that contain little or no thimerosal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Thimerosal was largely removed from pediatric vaccines by 2001, amid concerns that it could be linked to autism in children. But according to the CDC, 'a robust body of peer-reviewed scientific studies conducted in the U.S. and other countries support the safety of thimerosal-containing vaccines.' The draft agenda for next week's ACIP meeting revisits issues that scientists and public health experts have long considered to be settled, including the use of the measles mumps, rubella and varicella vaccine in children under 5 years old. It's unclear yet what the panel will discuss regarding the shot. The current CDC childhood vaccine schedule recommends two doses for children, with the first dose at age 12-15 months and the second at age 4-6 years. CDC suggests that the MMR vaccine be given rather than MMRV for the first dose, but both shots have been on the schedule for decades. Welcome to The Hill's Health Care newsletter, we're Nathaniel Weixel, Joseph Choi and Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health. Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here. Essential Reads How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond: Trump administration makes sweeping changes to ObamaCare, ends 'Dreamer' coverage The Trump administration is shortening ObamaCare's annual open enrollment period and ending the law's coverage of immigrants that entered the U.S. illegally as children, according to a final rule announced Friday. The Biden administration made it easier and more affordable to sign up for Affordable Care Act plans, causing enrollment to swell to an all-time high. The Trump administration claims those moves opened a wave … New COVID-19 variant causes 'razor blade throat' Patients and doctors say the latest COVID-19 variant spreading in the U.S. in some cases causes a sore throat so painful it has earned the nickname 'razor blade throat.' The nimbus variant, which is officially known as NB.1.8.1., is a descendant of the omicron and is being monitored by the World Health Organization. 'Your throat is so dry, so cracked, it's so painful, it's even hard to drink sometimes,' Muhammad Azam, … ChatGPT use linked to cognitive decline: MIT research ChatGPT can harm an individual's critical thinking over time, a study released this month suggests. Researchers at MIT's Media Lab asked subjects to write several SAT essays and separated subjects into three groups — using OpenAI's ChatGPT, using Google's search engine and using nothing, which they called the 'brain‑only' group. Each subject's brain was monitored through electroencephalography (EEG), … On Our Radar Upcoming news themes and events we're watching: In Other News Branch out with a different read from The Hill: Agencies they can't enforce anti-trans bias policies against Catholic groups: Judge BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Two federal agencies cannot punish Catholic employers and health care providers if they refuse for religious reasons to provide gender-affirming care to transgender patients or won't provide health insurance coverage for such care to their workers, a federal judge ruled Thursday. The ruling from U.S. District … A MESSAGE FROM ALLIANCE FOR AGING RESEARCH Around the Nation Local and state headlines on health care: What We're Reading Health news we've flagged from other outlets: What Others are Reading Most read stories on The Hill right now: Senate parliamentarian knocks pieces out of Trump's megabill Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has ruled that several key pieces of the massive bill to implement President Trump's agenda run afoul of … Read more Supreme Court rules against FDA, EPA 12:30 Report is The Hill's midday newsletter. Subscribe here or using the box below: Close Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters … Read more What People Think Opinions related to health submitted to The Hill: You're all caught up. See you next week! Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here
The Hill
3 hours ago
- The Hill
Trump administration makes sweeping changes to ObamaCare, ends ‘Dreamer' coverage
The Trump administration is shortening ObamaCare's annual open enrollment period and ending the law's coverage of immigrants that entered the U.S. illegally as children, according to a final rule announced Friday. The Biden administration made it easier and more affordable to sign up for Affordable Care Act plans, causing enrollment to swell to an all-time high. The Trump administration claims those moves opened a wave of fraudulent enrollment that's costing taxpayers billions of dollars. According to the rule, the federal open enrollment period will run from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31. Currently, federal open enrollment ends Jan. 15. States operating their own health insurance exchanges will have the flexibility to set their own open enrollments, so long as they run no longer than nine weeks between the November and December dates. In addition to the shortened enrollment period, the administration said it is ending ObamaCare coverage for immigrants that came into the U.S. illegally as children, also known as 'Dreamers.' The provision will undo a Biden-era rule that was estimated to allow 147,000 immigrants to enroll in coverage. A federal judge blocked the rule from being enforced in 19 states, and it is still being litigated. The administration also banned plans from covering 'sex-trait modification' as an essential health benefit beginning in plan year 2026. The policy will apply to the five states that currently include coverage for gender-affirming care, as well as in states that do not have such coverage expressly mentioned. But many of the other changes announced Friday will only last a year, like requiring more income verifications for people to enroll in coverage on federal exchange plans. The one-year sunset is a change from when the rule was proposed in March. It's designed to give Republicans on Capitol Hill an opportunity to codify the provisions into law for the long-term and use the savings to fund their massive party-line tax and spending bill. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the rule is projected to save up to $12 billion in 2026 by 'reining in wasteful federal spending, and refocusing on making health insurance markets more affordable and sustainable for hardworking American families.' For instance, the rule requires federal exchange plans to check consumers' eligibility for special enrollment periods and raise the burden of verification for people who are automatically re-enrolled in subsidized plans. The rule also requires plans to charge those people a $5 monthly premium until they confirm or update their eligibility information. The rule also ends a monthly special enrollment period for people with income below 150 percent of the federal poverty line, which CMS said 'has been exploited to enroll consumers or change their plans without their knowledge.'
