The US Department of Health and Services (HHS) reported on Sunday of the first human case in the United States of Barrenador of the New World, a carnivorous parasite associated with trips, from a country affected by an outbreak.
The case, investigated by the Department of Health of Maryland and the Centers for the Control and Prevention of Diseases (CDC) of the US, was confirmed as a Barrenador of the New World on August 4, and involved a patient who returned from a trip to El Salvador, said HHS spokesman Andrew G. Nixon, in an email to Reuters.
Previously, it was reported that sources from the res industrial industry of res indicated last week that the CDCs had confirmed a case of the New World Barrenader worm in a person in Maryland who had traveled to the United States from Guatemala.
Nixon did not approach the discrepancy about the origin of the human case.
“The risk to public health in the United States for this introduction is very low,” he said.
The US government did not confirm any cases in animals this year.
The discrepancies between the US government and industry sources on the human case will probably disturb a sector of farmers, beef producers and cattle merchants that are already on a maximum alert in the face of possible infestations in the United States, given that the barrencier worm moved to the north from Central America and southern Mexico.
The confirmation by the government of a case of a browser worm occurs just over a week after the Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, traveled to Texas to announce the plans to build a sterile flies there as part of the initiatives to combat the plague.
The USDA estimated that a barely worm outbreak could cost Texas’s economy, the largest livestock state in the United States, around 1.8 billion dollars in livestock deaths, labor costs and medication expenses.
An executive of the Beef Alliance industrial group sent emails last week to about two dozen people from the cattle sectors and beef sectors, informing them that the CDC had confirmed a human case of a browser worm in Maryland in a person who had traveled to the United States from Guatemala, according to a source that asked not to be identified and that he shared the content of the emails.
Beth Thompson, South Dakota state veterinarian, told Reuters on Sunday that a person with direct knowledge of the case notified him about a human case in Maryland last week. The CDC sent the questions to Maryland in a call with state -owned animal health officials, said Thompson. “We learned from other ways and then we had to go to the CDCs to inform us of what was happening,” he explained. “They were nothing communicative. They returned the matter to the State to confirm any event or what would have been found in this traveler.”
Another source indicated that state veterinarians learned of a human case in Maryland during a call with the CDC last week. A Maryland state government official also confirmed a case. A spokesman for the Health Department of Maryland did not immediately respond to comments requests.
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What are the barenting worms?
Barrenous worms are parasitic flies whose females put eggs in the wounds of any hot blood animal. Once the eggs hatch, hundreds of larvae of the boreride worm use their sharp mouths to dig in living flesh, eventually killing their guest if it is not.
The food of the worms is similar to that of a screw that is nailed to the wood, hence its name.
Barrenading worms can be devastating cattle and wildlife, and rarely infest humans, although an infestation, either in an animal or in a person, can be deadly.
The treatment is expensive and implies the extraction of hundreds of larvae and the thorough disinfection of the wounds. However, infestations are usually treatable if treated on time.
The emails of the Beef Alliance Executive indicated that, due to the patient’s privacy laws, there were no more available details about the positive human case of a browser worm. The person received treatment and prevention measures were implemented in the state, according to email.
A cattle economist from the Texas A&M University was asked to prepare a report for Rollins on the impact on the border closing industry to Mexican cattle, according to emails. This measure has been in force since November to prevent the arrival of the Barrenador worm in the United States.
The CDCs were required to report the positive case of the New World Barrenader worm both to the Maryland health authorities and the Maryland state veterinarian, as indicated in one of the emails, and it was added that the CDC also notified other interested parties of the agricultural sector.
“We maintain the hope that, since currently only the representatives of the industry and the state veterinarians are aware, the probability of filtering a positive case is low, which would minimize the impact on the market,” wrote the executive of the beef industry.
Impact on the future of beef and cattle
Livestock merchants and beef producers have been alert to the possibility of cases in livestock, since prices have already reached historical maximums because the American cattle herd is in its lowest size in seven decades.
A human case and the lack of transparency in this regard could represent a political challenge for Rollins. The USDA placed traps and sent agents on horseback along the border, but faced criticism of some farmers and market analysts for not acting more quickly to increase the production of flies.
Rollins initially announced in June his plans for an installation of sterile flies at the Moore Air Base in Edinburg, Texas, near where a production plant worked to combat the boreride worm during the last important outbreak 50 years ago.
He added that the installation would take between two and three years to be operational.
Mexico also took measures to limit the propagation of the plague, which can kill cattle in a matter of weeks if it is not. The Mexican government announced in July the beginning of the construction of a sterile flies production, with a cost of 51 million dollars, in the south of the country.
The only operational plant is located in Panama City and can produce a maximum of 100 million sterile flies of the boreride worm every week. The USDA estimates that it would be necessary to release 500 million flies weekly to repel the fly to the Darién plug, the Tropical Jungle Strip between Panama and Colombia.
The boreride worm has been traveling north through Mexico from Central America since 2023. It is endemic in Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic and countries in South America, according to the USDA.
Mexico reported a new case about 595 km south of the border with the United States, in Ixhuatlán de Madero, Veracruz, in July. The USDA immediately ordered the closure of cattle trade through the southern entry ports, after having previously suspended imports in November and May.
The United States usually imports more than one million heads of cattle from Mexico a year to gain weight in fattening pens and process them in beef. The barakeous worms were eradicated from the United States in the 1960s, when researchers began to release massive amounts of sterilized male flies that mate with wild females to produce infertile eggs.
With Reuters information
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