{"id":10179,"date":"2025-08-27T15:58:33","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T20:58:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/?p=10179"},"modified":"2025-08-27T15:58:35","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T20:58:35","slug":"a-maryland-resident-is-diagnosed-with-screwworm-heres-what-to-know-about-the-flesh-eating-parasite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/2025\/08\/27\/a-maryland-resident-is-diagnosed-with-screwworm-heres-what-to-know-about-the-flesh-eating-parasite\/","title":{"rendered":"A Maryland resident is diagnosed with screwworm. Here’s what to know about the flesh-eating parasite."},"content":{"rendered":"
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CBS<\/a> A Maryland resident who traveled to El Salvador has been diagnosed with New World screwworm \u2014 the first reported U.S. case<\/a> tied to travel to a country with a current outbreak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the diagnosis on Aug. 4. Federal health officials acknowledged the infection in an emailed statement Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The person has recovered, and investigators found no transmission to any other people or animals, Maryland health officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CDC investigated the case in coordination with Maryland’s health department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s what to know. What is New World screwworm?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New World screwworm (NWS) is a fly that lays its eggs in open wounds and body openings. The parasite is typically found in South America and the Caribbean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is rare in humans but has been a concern to ranchers, as cattle infestations have been moving northward through Central America and Mexico. The CDC is working with the U.S. Agriculture Department to prevent further spread, officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pest was a recurring problem for the American cattle industry for decades, with Florida and Texas known as hot spots, until the U.S. largely eradicated it in the 1960s and 1970s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that history, the Maryland case is likely not the first time an American has ever been diagnosed with it, said Max Scott, a North Carolina State University research who has studied it. But this appears to be the first case in a U.S. resident in quite a while, he said.<\/p>\n RnTipGWYu uTGNt uDiD<\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CBS A Maryland resident who traveled to El Salvador has been diagnosed with New World screwworm \u2014 the first reported U.S. case tied to travel to a country with a current outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the diagnosis on Aug. 4. Federal health officials acknowledged the infection in an emailed statement Monday. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emerging-infectious-diseases","category-featured-headlines"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10179"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10180,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10179\/revisions\/10180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}