AUSTIN — Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller today issued the following statement after being notified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) of a new detection of the New World screwworm (NWS) in Montemorelos, Nuevo León, Mexico, approximately 120 miles south of the Texas border. USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed the case in a 22-month-old bovine transported from Veracruz to a feedlot in Nuevo León.
“The New World screwworm is one of the most devastating livestock pests ever encountered in North America,” Commissioner Miller said. “We have beaten it before with resolve and science, and we’ll do it again, but Texas must stay vigilant.”
This detection marks the northernmost active case currently found in Mexico. It is also the second detection at the same Nuevo León feedlot since October. No additional cases were linked to the October detection, and both events appear tied to livestock movements from southern Mexico.
Commissioner Miller emphasized that Texas remains free from detection, but that state officials and agriculture leaders cannot be complacent.