{"id":345209,"date":"2025-08-27T16:16:56","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T10:46:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=345209"},"modified":"2025-08-27T16:16:56","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T10:46:56","slug":"new-world-screwworm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/new-world-screwworm\/","title":{"rendered":"New World Screwworm"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>News:<\/strong> Recently, U.S.A.\u00a0reported its <strong>first human case<\/strong> of New World Screwworm infestation, involving a person who had travelled to <strong>El Salvador<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>About New World Screwworm<\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dehayf5mhw1h7.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2103\/2024\/12\/17233910\/new-world-screwworm-usda-aphis-photo.jpg?resize=360%2C240&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Human Case of New World Screwworm Confirmed in the US - 1010 WCSI\" width=\"360\" height=\"240\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: 1010wcsi.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>The New World Screwworm is a type of <strong>blue-grey blowfly.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Scientific name<\/strong>: <strong>Cochliomyia hominivorax<\/strong>, which literally means<strong> \u201cman-eater.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Naming:<\/strong> These flies are called <strong>screwworms<\/strong> because their <strong>larvae burrow into the tissue in a screw-like way.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Distribution:<\/strong> They are usually found in <strong>South America and the Caribbean<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Symptoms of infestation<\/strong>: They include <strong>wounds or sores that do not heal<\/strong>, <strong>bleeding from open sores<\/strong>, <strong>movement of larvae under the skin<\/strong>, and a <strong>foul odor<\/strong> from the infected site.\n<ul>\n<li>In severe cases, the larvae can invade deeper tissues such as the brain, leading to <strong>sepsis<\/strong> and possibly death.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Life cycle and reproduction<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>A single female screwworm can lay up to <strong data-start=\"1376\" data-end=\"1398\">300 eggs at a time<\/strong>, and up to <strong data-start=\"1410\" data-end=\"1444\">3,000 eggs during her lifespan<\/strong> of 10\u201330 days.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>eggs hatch into larvae<\/strong> that feed on tissue, causing <strong>infestation<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>After feeding, the larvae fall to the ground, burrow into the soil, and emerge as adult flies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Threat: <\/strong><strong>Humans <\/strong>are targeted <strong>rarely<\/strong>, but the risk increases when people travel to regions where the parasite is present.\n<ul>\n<li>The parasite poses a serious <strong>threat to livestock<\/strong>, especially cattle, because open wounds on animals provide easy entry points for infestation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Control and eradication efforts<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The United States eradicated the New World Screwworm in <strong>1966<\/strong> using the <strong>sterile insect technique<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>This method involved <strong>rearing billions of sterile male flies<\/strong> and <strong>releasing<\/strong> them into the wild.<\/li>\n<li>When wild females mated with sterile males, they <strong>did not produce<\/strong> offspring, which helped reduce the population.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: Recently, U.S.A.\u00a0reported its first human case of New World Screwworm infestation, involving a person who had travelled to El Salvador. About New World Screwworm The New World Screwworm is a type of blue-grey blowfly. Scientific name: Cochliomyia hominivorax, which literally means \u201cman-eater.\u201d Naming: These flies are called screwworms because their larvae burrow into the&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/new-world-screwworm\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">New World Screwworm<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10366,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,1738,12039],"tags":[11872,10500],"class_list":["post-345209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-science-and-technology-daily-factly-articles","category-knolls","tag-9pm-daily-factly","tag-indian-express","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345209\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}