Mexico confirms six cases of myiasis due to screwworm in humans

Mexico City.- The Ministry of Health of Mexico confirmed this Tuesday six cases of myiasis by screwworm in humans, mainly in the southern state of Chiapas, and that one of them remains hospitalized.

"Indeed, there are six cases, of which five are already at home and one is hospitalized," said the head of the Ministry of Health, David Kersenobich, during the presidential press conference.

The dependency, through its epidemiological surveillance bulletin, specified that five of the cases have been detected in three municipalities of the southern state of Chiapas and one in Campeche, in the southeast of the country.

Kersenobich specified that Mexico has already implemented a strategy to try to prevent these cases, especially focusing on hygiene.

“Because the contact is through a wound that someone has to produce and it has to do with hygiene. Just as washing hands changed many of the infectious diseases in the country, here when someone has a wound they need to wash it properly,” he asserted.

For her part, the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, confirmed that this Tuesday the head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Julio Berdegué, will have a call with the Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, regarding livestock exports and the campaign against the screwworm.

“We hope that (U.S. authorities) will lift (the border closure). There is already a complete technical agreement. That is, the technicians from the United States and our technicians have already agreed on how to prevent the plague from reaching the north. They are in total agreement,” he pointed out.

Since last May 11, the United States announced the closure for 15 days of the import of Mexican cattle due to the spread of the screwworm, which concluded on May 25, however, the border has not yet reopened.

The Mexican National Agricultural Council (CNA) stated that the United States' decision to halt imports of cattle, equine, and bison from Mexico due to new outbreaks of screwworm could mean losses of 11.4 million dollars daily for the country.

Screwworm Outbreak

The screwworm outbreak, a fly larva that lays its eggs in open wounds of animals, poses a serious risk to animal health and the livestock economy of Mexico, which had managed to eradicate this pest in 1991, maintaining a sanitary status that could now be compromised if new cases are not controlled.

Last Thursday, ranchers from southern Mexico stated that approximately 100,000 heads of cattle are brought in without any health control per month through the more than 692 kilometers of border with Guatemala, which worsens the problem.