Mexico boosts controls on cattle after new screwworm case is found near U.S. border
-
Click here to listen to this article - Share via
MEXICO CITY — Mexico activated emergency controls Monday after detecting a new case of New World screwworm in cattle in the northern border state of Nuevo Leon, the closest case to the U.S. border since the outbreak began last year.
The animal, found in the town of Sabinas Hidalgo, came from the gulf state of Veracruz, Mexico’s National Health for Food Safety and Food Quality Service said. The last case was reported July 9 in Veracruz, prompting Washington to suspend imports of live Mexican cattle.
The parasite, a larva of the Cochliomyia hominivorax fly, attacks warm-blooded animals, including humans. Mexico has reported more than 500 active cases in cattle across southern states.
The block on cattle imports has spelled trouble for Mexico’s government, which has already been busy trying to offset the brunt of President Trump’s tariff threats this year.
California health officials warn that the New World Screwworm could arrive in California from an infested traveler or animal, or from the natural travel of the parasitic flies.
The government and ranchers have sought to get the ban lifted. If it stays in place through the year, Mexico’s ranching federation estimates losses of up to $400 million.
Mexico Agriculture Secretary Julio Berdegué said in a post on X that Mexico is “controlling the isolated case of screwworm in Nuevo Leon,” under measures to fight the pest agreed upon with the U.S. in August.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Washington will take “decisive measures to protect our borders, even in the absence of cooperation,” and said imports on Mexican cattle, bison and horses will remain suspended.
“We will not rely on Mexico to defend our industry, our food supply or our way of life,” she said.
More From the Los Angeles Times
Podcasts
Kim, an attorney and former San Francisco supervisor, is running against State Sen. Benjamin Allen for the role of running California’s long-beleaguered Department of Insurance. In this episode she talks to Rebuilding L.A. host Kate Cagle about why she should get the job.
The Hillside Strangler murders terrorized Los Angeles in the late 1970s. The killers were a pair of sadistic cousins. One confessed. The other was set to stand trial—until L.A. prosecutors flinched.
Modern LA earned its first smoggy nickname 450 years ago, as the “bay of smokes.” At the La Brea tar pits, we take a short walk through a long history with curator Regan Dunn, who explains how and why the first Angelenos would have set fires that filled the broad bowl of LA and foretold the curse of smog.
