We Beat This Bug in 1966. We Just Let It Walk Back In.
Written by: Patrick Montgomery
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Published on
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Time to read 6 min
We Beat This Bug in 1966. We Just Let The New World Screwworm Walk Back In.
There is a flesh-eating parasite back on American soil for the first time in a generation. The story of how it got here is the same story as who owns your dinner.
The New World screwworm is back, and it is now turning up in Texas. We had not seen it in this country in any real way since 1966.
Most flies you have ever swatted are harmless. A blowfly lands on roadkill or last week’s trash and does its job cleaning up dead tissue. Useful, in its own gross way. Nature’s cleanup crew.
The screwworm is not that. The screwworm eats living flesh. The female lays her eggs at the edge of an open wound on a live animal. A tick bite. A fresh brand. The navel of a newborn calf. The larvae burrow into healthy tissue and they keep going, and the wound gets bigger, and more flies come. Untreated, it can kill a grown cow in a matter of days. Its scientific name means “man-eater.” They were not being dramatic. It is a zoonotic parasite. Meaning, this isn’t just a concern for the domestic beef herd. It is a concern for your dogs, cats, and kids.
We won this fight once
Give the people who came before us credit. Starting in the 1950s, the United States ran one of the great quiet victories in the history of American agriculture. We drove the screwworm south, out of the country, and we kept driving it. Out of the southern states. Out of Mexico by 1991. Down through Central America. All the way to a single narrow chokepoint in Panama called the Darien Gap.
And then we held the line there. For about seventeen years. We held it with a sterile-fly program that floods the area with sterilized males so the population cannot sustain itself. It worked. It just worked quietly, which is why you never heard about it.
In 2023 the line broke. The parasite came back north through Central America and Mexico, and now it is here.
The 60-year line: pushed south to one chokepoint in Panama, held for nearly two decades, then back across the border to Texas.
How it got here, and how it did not
You are going to hear theories. The one I keep running into is that we somehow imported this in foreign beef. It is a tempting story, and it is wrong, but it isn’t true.
The screwworm cannot travel in beef. It needs living, warm flesh to survive. A boxed, chilled, frozen cut of meat is dead tissue held cold. The bug cannot live in it, cannot grow in it, cannot do anything in it. We also do not import live cattle from Brazil at all.
The truth is simpler and honestly worse. It came by land. It walked north on live animals and drifted on the wind through a stretch of Central America nobody is really guarding anymore, while the barrier that used to seal that gap was allowed to weaken. It did not sneak in. It walked through a gate we stopped locking.
The part nobody wants to say out loud
Here is where it stops being about a bug.
The same decades we spent letting that gate rust, we also handed off control of our own beef. The biggest packers that process American beef are foreign-owned now. Down in South America, the herd has been quietly reoriented to feed China and the United States more than anyone else, run through a handful of giant multinational companies. Step back and look at it plainly. We let go of who owns the system, and we let go of who it feeds, and we let go of the defenses that protected it.
What changed is not only how much beef the hemisphere produces. It is who it is for. China has gone from a rounding error to the dominant buyer.
Two different failures. One root. We stopped tending our own house.
I think about stewardship a lot. We are supposed to be stewards of what we have been given. And stewardship is not a one-time win you get to coast on. It is a job you keep doing, every season, or the thing you were given falls apart. We won the screwworm fight in 1966 and then a couple generations later we acted like the win was permanent. It never is.
Not facts. Just common sense and why Valor exists
Do you think the Brazilian processors who control America’s beef are worried about the re-entrance of the screwworm to America’s beef inventory?
I’ll give you my thought… No, they are not.
Brazil never eradicated the screwworm. This is an endemic their cattle ranchers have always dealt with.
Conversely, American ranchers today have no idea how to profitably handle this situation. America’s beef inventory is already on life support and at record prices.
Now, if America’s beef inventory continues to shrink, and the price for fat cattle continues to increase, does that help or hurt the Brazilian beef processors who are holding out their hand and offering an alternative to our politicians to win their constituents’ votes at the next election?
If you are starting the year with a Valor Provisions membership, you already have everything you need to cook well, eat intentionally, and enjoy the process.
This year, make better meat the foundation.
The New World screwworm, a parasite that feeds on living tissue and can threaten livestock, pets and humans, has returned after the United States successfully eradicated it decades ago.
The parasite did not arrive through imported beef. It moved north through living animals as the containment system that once held it in Panama weakened.
Its return raises a larger question about stewardship: what happens when America stops maintaining the systems that protect its food supply and gives up more control of the beef industry?
Founder of Valor Provisions and a former U.S. Army Ranger with the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. After serving his country, Patrick traded the battlefield for the pasture—combining his passion for service, hard work, and high-quality food into a mission-driven Wagyu beef operation in Missouri. Today, he leads KC Cattle Company with a focus on excellence, ethical ranching, and honoring the legacy of his fallen brother-in-law, Staff Sgt. Jeremy Katzenberger. When he's not on the ranch, Patrick speaks on veteran entrepreneurship, the importance of preserving American Farming, and building businesses that make a real impact.
FAQ
What is the New World Screwworm?
The New World screwworm is a parasitic fly whose larvae feed on the living tissue of warm-blooded animals. Female flies lay eggs near open wounds, and the larvae can cause severe and potentially fatal infections if left untreated.
Why is the screwworm dangerous to cattle?
Screwworm larvae burrow into healthy tissue and enlarge existing wounds. Untreated infestations can spread quickly and, in severe cases, kill livestock within days.
Can the New World screwworm affect humans and pets?
Yes. The New World screwworm is a zoonotic parasite and can affect warm-blooded animals, including cattle, wildlife, dogs, cats and humans.
How did the United States eradicate the screwworm before?
The United States used a sterile-fly program beginning in the 1950s. Large numbers of sterilized male flies were released so the population could not reproduce, eventually pushing the parasite south through Mexico and Central America.
How did the screwworm move back toward the United States?
The parasite moved north through Central America and Mexico on living animals after the containment barrier that had held it near the Darién Gap in Panama weakened.
Why does this matter for American ranchers?
American ranchers have operated for decades without having to manage screwworm as an endemic threat. Its return could create new animal-health challenges and additional pressure on an already strained U.S. cattle industry.
Best flank steak ever. Lazy me — marinated in bottled balsamic vinegar salad dressing for a couple hours, grilled for 3-5 minutes on each side and served with a fresh herb/red vinegar/garlic chimichura. Beef quality was the clincher.
