Cattle Industry Concerned Over Screwworm Reporting Delay

Reuters’ Tom Polansek and Leah Douglas reported that “the patient with the first human infestation of travel-associated New World screwworm [NWS] in the United States has recovered from the flesh-eating parasite, and there was no sign of transmission to other people or animals, the Maryland Department of Health said on Monday.”

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the human case as NWS on Aug. 4 in a person who returned from travel to El Salvador, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,” Polansek and Douglas reported. “The agency announced the case on Sunday after Reuters reported earlier in the day on emails from beef industry officials on a CDC-confirmed case in a person in Maryland who had traveled to the U.S. from Guatemala.”

“The nearly three-week delay between the confirmation of the case on Aug. 4 and the U.S. government’s disclosure erodes trust that public agencies need to identify and fight potential NWS outbreaks, said Neal Wilkins, CEO of conservation and cattle group East Foundation,” Douglas and Polansek reported. “‘It will cause many producers and land owners, wildlife managers, to simply begin to believe that they’re not being fed the whole story,’ he said. ‘It’s irresponsible and tone deaf for them to have done this.’

Progressive Farmer’s Jennifer Carrico reported that “Bill Bullard, R-CALF USA CEO, is not only concerned about the NWS human case, but also about the sharing of information regarding the case. Though the case was confirmed by the CDC on Aug. 4, no information was released to the public until Reuters news agency reported on it over the weekend.”