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U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández speaks Thursday during a news conference in Albuquerque about a piece of federal legislation to strengthen local training and response efforts to combat the spread of New World screwworm flies. Leger Fernández and U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez have introduced the measure.
An adult New World screwworm fly.
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Health Care Accountability Reporter
U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández speaks Thursday during a news conference in Albuquerque about a piece of federal legislation to strengthen local training and response efforts to combat the spread of New World screwworm flies. Leger Fernández and U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez have introduced the measure.
ALBUQUERQUE — Following a New World screwworm fly infestation detected in a Southern New Mexico dog, U.S. Reps. Gabe Vasquez and Teresa Leger Fernández have introduced a piece of federal legislation to strengthen local training and response efforts.
The Protecting America’s Herds Act would create a new grant program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help cooperative extension offices nationwide educate producers and train new inspectors to identify and manage screwworm outbreaks.
“We are, in the state of New Mexico, working collaboratively,” Leger Fernández, a New Mexico Democrat, said at a news conference Thursday in Albuquerque. “Everybody is communicating, and we believe that we are going to have the opportunity to actually stop the screwworm, to protect livestock, to protect our livelihoods.”
An adult New World screwworm fly.
The lawmakers’ proposal “is about getting help on the front lines before the problem becomes a full-blown national crisis with devastating effects locally,” added Vasquez, also a New Mexico Democrat.
The New World screwworm fly, largely eradicated from the U.S. for decades, poses a major threat to the livestock industry. Common in the Caribbean and Central America, its larvae burrow into the flesh of warm-blooded creatures, including livestock, pets, wildlife and, in rare cases, people and feast upon healthy tissue, causing painful and putrid wounds.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed 12 infestations in cattle, sheep and goats across central Texas. As of Thursday afternoon, nine of those cases were considered “active” infestations.
The federal agency has categorized New Mexico’s case — found in a dog in Eunice — as “inactive.” Dr. Samantha Holeck, state veterinarian with the New Mexico Livestock Board, confirmed during Thursday’s news conference the affected dog has recovered.
“I’m happy to report he has recovered well. He is healed, and he will be going home today,” Holeck said.
However, she clarified New Mexico’s 12-mile infested zone around the dog’s location in Lea County will remain in place until livestock and public health officials complete surveillance through at least three life cycles of the fly. She estimated that time period as about three months, but said the length of a life cycle can vary, depending on environmental factors.
“We will get through this,” Holeck said. “We’ve been through this before. … It’s not going to be a fast recovery. This is a long-term response that we will be ingrained in for a while, but it will take all of us cooperating and working together to get through it.”
The screwworm infestations will not affect the safety of the U.S. food supply, given existing inspection requirements before and during slaughter, Holeck noted, nor are they contagious or infectious like a disease.
Consumers aren’t expected to feel the effects of New World screwworm at the meat counter or in the dairy aisle, either, Dairy Producers of New Mexico Executive Director Beverly Idsinga and New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association President Tom Paterson confirmed.
“It’s just one of those things that we have to be prepared for,” Idsinga said.
The Protecting America’s Herds Act — sponsored by Vasquez and co-sponsored by Leger Fernández and 12 other members of Congress — is intended to aid in that preparation.
Vasquez said the bill would strengthen “one of the most trusted resources we have in rural America”: cooperative extension services, or local agricultural education hubs administered in this state by New Mexico State University.
Through the bill’s grant program, cooperative extension programs across the country could train new livestock inspectors, educate producers about the threat of screwworm, provide technical assistance on prevention and treatment, and coordinate with animal health officials and tribal agricultural programs.
“We’re going to be advocating for immediate passage and consideration of this bill. … I think it’s imperative — as legislators, as folks representing producers and cattle growers — that we do everything possible to get this type of grant program out to New Mexico producers,” Vasquez said.
Margaret O’Hara reports on issues affecting healthy communities in New Mexico. Her work is funded by a grant from Anchorum Health Foundation. Anchorum will not have any role in editorial decisions. The New Mexican and its Public Service Journalism Fund retain full editorial control. Philanthropically funded stories by The New Mexican are made available to all readers without a paywall.
It marks the first such case in New Mexico, after months of surveillance by state and federal authorities.
Health Care Accountability Reporter
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