The number of confirmed New World screwworm infestations in the United States has climbed to 12, intensifying concerns about the flesh-eating parasite’s spread and exposing sharp disagreements among Texas and federal officials over how the outbreak should be fought.
Eleven cases have been confirmed in Texas and one in New Mexico, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The infestations have involved cattle, goats, sheep and dogs, demonstrating that the threat extends beyond the beef industry.
New World screwworm flies lay eggs in wounds or body openings of warm-blooded animals. After hatching, the larvae burrow into living flesh. Infestations can become fatal without prompt treatment, although officials stress that the parasite is treatable and does not make properly handled meat unsafe to eat.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller told Texas Public Radio the outbreak could have been prevented while the parasite was still concentrated in southern Mexico.
“We could have bottled them up,” Miller said.
“We had them in a very small geographical location. We could have wiped them out right there, and we would have never had this problem.”
Miller has repeatedly urged USDA to supplement releases of sterile male flies with the Screwworm Adult Suppression System, or SWASS, which uses bait to kill adult flies.
The SWASS uses bait stations containing blood, sugar and chemical scents that attract adult screwworm flies, which are then killed by an insecticide. Environmental concerns center on the possibility that widespread distribution could expose beneficial insects, birds, wildlife, livestock or waterways to the insecticide.
The USDA has made sterile-fly production the centerpiece of its response to screwworm. Sterile insect releases disrupt reproduction because female screwworm flies generally mate only once.
The federal government says it is committing about $1.3 billion to containment efforts, including a new Texas facility intended to produce hundreds of millions of sterile flies each week. The Texas facility is not expected to be operational until May 2027.
Miller supports expanding sterile-fly production but says waiting for the new facility to reach full capacity would allow the parasite to spread farther.
“We need to use every tool in the toolbox,” he said. “We had a chance to stop it. We missed that window. Now we have to eliminate it and eradicate it for good.”
The dispute has become personal. Miller said he was not invited to a screwworm briefing and news conference attended by Gov. Greg Abbott and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. Abbott endorsed Miller’s victorious opponent, Nate Sheets, in the Republican primary. Miller will leave office at the end of the year. Miller contends Abbott deliberately excluded him from the state’s screwworm response.
“Obviously, Abbott doesn’t like me,” Miller said. “He endorsed my opponent.”
Rollins has criticized Miller after he previously suggested some ranchers might treat infestations without reporting them because they feared a quarantine. She described that approach as dangerous and stressed that reporting is essential to tracking and containing the parasite.
Miller now says ranchers should submit suspected larvae, after officials clarified that detection would not necessarily result in a complete lockdown of a ranch.
Miller also rejected criticism from Rollins that he was not taking the outbreak seriously.
“When it comes to this subject, there’s no one more serious than me,” he said.
Miller, an eighth-generation rancher, said he treated screwworm infestations in sheep, goats and cattle as a child.
“I’ve seen the damage they can do,” he said. “In a matter of just an hour or two, they can eat out a golf ball-sized hole in the side of a cow’s head.”
Miller predicts the screwworm will continue spreading across Texas and eventually reach other Southern states unless officials adopt a more aggressive strategy.
“If we keep doing what we’re doing, we won’t stop it,” Miller said. “It’s here to stay unless we change our mode of operation.”
He warns that ranchers could face higher labor, veterinary and treatment costs as they inspect animals more frequently and manage new infestations.
Miller believes eradication remains possible, but says it could now take two or three years and cost far more because officials missed the opportunity to contain the parasite while it was concentrated in southern Mexico.
Texas oil producers resist major drilling surge despite higher prices
Texas oil producers are benefiting from higher crude prices caused by restricted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, but they are not rushing to drill enough new wells to substantially replace lost global supplies.
A recent Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas analysis found that uncertainty over how long prices will remain elevated is discouraging major investments.
New production can take six to eight months to reach pipelines, while oil futures suggest prices could fall significantly by the end of the year.
The Dallas Fed reported that 73% of energy executives surveyed expected U.S. production to increase by no more than 250,000 barrels per day in 2026.
Producers have also become more financially conservative since the pandemic, prioritizing dividends and profits from existing wells rather than borrowing heavily to expand, according to the University of Houston energy economist Ed Hirs.
Hirs said drilling a new Texas well requires millions of dollars and generally needs oil prices near $70 a barrel to be profitable.
“The large oil companies operate on five- to 15-year time horizons,” Hirs said.
“Operating by social media, minute by minute, is not going to get more oil to market,” he said.
Additional constraints include limited Permian Basin natural-gas pipeline capacity, shortages of equipment and the reduced inventory of wells that can be quickly completed.
Some drilling and production may increase modestly, but the Dallas Fed said a traditional Texas oil boom remains unlikely unless producers become convinced that high prices will persist.
Hirs warned that oil prices could rise sharply by the end of the summer if the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked and emergency petroleum releases begin to run out.
“At some point this fall, if not by mid-summer, the price of oil will jump significantly,” he said.
Hirs said oil could reach nearly $200 a barrel, although he expects that spike to be temporary.
Even if a peace agreement is reached soon, he estimated it could take about eight months to repair damaged infrastructure, restore production and rebuild inventories.
“If peace is not broken out, if the strait is not unblocked,” Hirs said, “we’re going to see much higher prices because of the end of the releases.”
