There has been a lot of chatter this week about New World Screwworm in Mexico and how this will impact the beef cattle market. Below are several articles discussing this news story.
Mexico Notifies United States of New World Screwworm Detection Stakeholder Announcement
Contact:
APHISpress@usda.gov
USDA Takes Action to Prevent Spread to U.S. Animals
On November 22, 2024, the Chief Veterinary Officer of Mexico notified the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of a positive detection of New World screwworm (NWS) in Mexico. The NWS was found in a cow in the southern Mexico state of Chiapas, at an inspection checkpoint close to the border with Guatemala. NWS are fly larvae that infest living tissue of warm-blooded animals, causing infection.
“Given the northward movement of NWS, APHIS has in recent months stepped up its efforts in Central America to partner with impacted countries to push this pest out of newly affected areas,” said Dr. Rosemary Sifford, Chief Veterinary Officer of the United States. “With this latest find in Mexico, we will further intensify this work to protect American agriculture and reestablish the barrier in Central America.”
Given the severity of the threat from NWS, APHIS is restricting the importation of animal commodities1 originating from or transiting Mexico effective immediately and pending further information from Mexican veterinary authorities on the size and scope of the infestation. A complete list of regions APHIS recognizes as affected by screwworm and well as more detailed information on trade restrictions can be found on the USDA APHIS Animal Health Status of Regions website.
NWS maggots can infest livestock and other warm-blooded animals, including people. They most often enter an animal through an open wound and feed on the animal’s living flesh. While they can fly much farther under ideal conditions, adult flies generally do not travel more than a couple of miles if there are suitable host animals in the area.
APHIS is working with partners in Mexico and Central America to stop the spread of NWS into the United States and asking all producers along the southern border to watch their livestock and pets for signs of NWS and immediately report potential cases.
Screwworm infestations are difficult to detect at first. Check your pets and livestock for draining or enlarging wounds, and signs of discomfort. Also look for screwworm larvae or eggs. Screwworm eggs are creamy and white and are deposited on near the edges of superficial wounds. If you suspect your animal is infected with screwworm, contact your veterinarian.
While not common in humans, if you notice a suspicious lesion on your body or suspect you may have contracted screwworms, seek immediate medical attention.
Since 2006, APHIS has collaborated with Panama to maintain a barrier zone in eastern Panama, working to prevent the northward movement of NWS from South America to NWS-free areas in Central and North America. In the last two years, screwworm has spread north of the barrier throughout Panama and into Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and now Mexico. This increase is due to multiple factors including new areas of farming in previous barrier regions for fly control and increased cattle movements into the region. APHIS is releasing sterile flies through aerial and ground release at strategic locations throughout Central America.
APHIS will continue working with partners in Mexico and Central America to eradicate NWS from the affected areas and to reestablish the biological barrier in Panama.
To learn more about NWS, visit the APHIS website.
| Cattle Imports from Mexico Restricted after New World Screwworm Detection By: Josh Maples (MSU), David Anderson (Texas A&M), and Charley Martinez (Univ. of Tennessee) Big news broke over the weekend as Mexico notified the USDA of a positive detection of New World screwworm in a cow in the southern Mexico state of Chiapas. The USDA-APHIS announcement (available here) noted the case was identified at an inspection checkpoint near the border with Guatemala. As a result, USDA-APHIS announced “APHIS is temporarily suspending the importation of ruminants, including live cattle and bison, from Mexico.” The screwworm is an issue with which the cattle industry has grappled before. The map above shows when the screwworm was eradicated from various regions in the 1950s-1980s. Eradication efforts were driven by the release of tens of millions of sterile screwworm male flies to reduce reproduction. For anyone interested in more historical context, here is a link to an article posted by the Foreign Agriculture Organization. There are many potential impacts of this announcement and also many unknowns. A few unknowns that will be key in potential impacts are: whether additional cases are identified (and where); how long the import ban lasts; and will the ban continue to affect all imported cattle from Mexico or just those from specific regions. The market impacts of this announcement are likely to be obvious in the near-term. The U.S. imports a significant number of feeder cattle from Mexico, and that is now temporarily suspended. Roughly 5 percent of feedlot placements this year have been imported feeder cattle from Mexico. The fall months are a seasonally high import period, as shown in the chart below. If the ban on imports of feeder cattle lasts awhile, it would mean a lower supply of feeder cattle going into feedlots. Tight feeder cattle supplies would get tighter which would mean more support for prices. There will be more information about this topic released over the coming days and weeks. Right now there are probably more questions than answers. Feeder cattle futures markets were up as much as $4 per CWT at some points in trading today and closed the day up about $1 per CWT. |
An Old Menace
Tuesday, November 26, 2024
Over the weekend, USDA APHIS announced a new restriction on livestock from Mexico due to an occurrence of New World Screwworm (NWS) in the Southern Mexican state of Chiapas. APHIS is restricting the importation of animal commodities originating from, or transiting through, Mexico immediately while awaiting more information of the size and scope of the outbreak. READ More