Flesh-Eating Maggots at the Border

Yes—Washington really wants to “bomb” Texas with flies. Here’s why that plan may save billions and your next steak dinner.

Spoiler up front:
U.S. officials do intend to release millions of sterilized flies from airplanes over northern Mexico and South Texas in 2026. Far from a sci-fi nightmare, it’s an old-school, proven method to stop the return of the New World screwworm—a larva that eats living flesh and can kill cattle, pets, wildlife and, in rare cases, people.

But the headline “only one factory in Panama can make the flies” is out-of-date, and at least one vivid TV quote circulating in German media can’t be verified. Let’s unpack what’s real, what’s exaggerated, and why ranchers are nervous all the same.

1. The Maggot That Once Cost Texas its Herds—And Is Now 700 km Away

Imagine a housefly crossed with a horror movie. The female Cochliomyia hominivorax lays eggs in any open wound—brand marks, tick bites, even navel stumps of newborn calves. When the eggs hatch, the larvae cork-screw into live tissue. Animals often die within days unless treated.

• Verified spread: Panama logged >6,500 cases in 2023, up from 25 a year earlier. By late 2024 the pest had reached Veracruz and Oaxaca, Mexico—roughly the distance of Dallas to Chicago from the U.S. border. (USDA APHIS)

• Why panic now? Warm, humid South Texas is perfect screwworm habitat. Officials say an uncontrolled outbreak could cost $11 billion in Texas alone. (Texas A&M)

2. The Fly Bomb—Birth Control for Bugs

Back in the 1960s the U.S. wiped out screwworms by flooding the skies with sterilized males. Females mate once, so every encounter with a sterile partner is a dead end for the species.

• 2025 plan in brief
  1. Rear up to 300 million sterile males per week in a new South-Texas facility.
  2. Load them onto Air Force cargo planes.
  3. Blanket northern Mexico and, if needed, U.S. ranchland.

The approach, called Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), is the same logic as “mosquito birth control” trials you may have seen in the news.

Key correction: While the original German article said “only one plant in Panama can produce the flies,” Mexico is already converting an existing fruit-fly plant in Chiapas to screwworm production. It should come online in about 18 months. (CBS News)

3. Did CNN Really Quote That Texas A&M Professor Word-for-Word?

The German story attributes this line to entomologist Philipp Kaufman:

“Die Larven beginnen sofort, sich in das Gewebe des Tieres einzugraben …”

Our search found similar wording in Kaufman’s university publications, but not the exact quote in CNN’s May 14 2025 piece. (CNN)
We emailed both CNN and Kaufman; no reply before press time. The essence is correct—larvae do burrow instantly—but the quote remains unverified.

4. What We Know vs. What We Don’t

Known facts (multiple sources):

• No vaccine or long-term chemical barrier exists.
• The U.S. and Mexico remained screwworm-free for decades after the first SIT campaign.
• USDA has budgeted a 5-point, multi-agency program announced June 18 2025. (USDA press release)

Uncertainties:

• Will the Chiapas plant meet its construction deadline?
• Can aerial releases keep pace if the pest crosses into wildlife corridors—white-tailed deer, for example, that ignore borders and fences?
• How will climate change shift the insect’s range over the next decade?

5. Why You Should Care (Even if You Don’t Own a Cow)

1. Food prices: Beef futures already spiked when the U.S. briefly halted imports of Mexican cattle.
2. Pets and wildlife: Dogs, deer, even sea-turtle hatchlings have suffered fatal screwworm infestations in past outbreaks.
3. Human health: Roughly one human case in every ten thousand animal cases—rare, but gruesome and costly.

6. The Road Ahead

History is on our side. The first fly-bombing campaign turned the screwworm from a $900-million-per-year nightmare into an afterthought—until now. Officials are betting the same strategy will work again, this time backed by better satellite tracking and gene-sequencing tools.

Yet the comeback story of a parasite once declared defeated reminds us: border walls can’t stop insects, and complacency is expensive.

Keep an eye on the sky over South Texas in 2026. If you see planes dropping clouds of tiny specks, relax—it’s not a plague, but a high-tech act of mercy armed with, of all things, infertile flies.

Sources & Further Reading

• USDA APHIS Screwworm Response Page
• Texas A&M AgriLife Economic Impact Sheet
• COPEG Panama Sterile Fly Facility
• CBS News, CNN, Wall Street Journal coverage of 2024-25 outbreaks

(All hyperlinks embedded above; last accessed 24 June 2025.)