The Food and Drug Administration is seeking to prevent possible infestations of the New World Screwworm by authorizing the use of animal drugs. File Photo by Juan Manuel Blanco/EPA-EFE
The Food and Drug Administration has authorized emergency use of animal drugs to treat and prevent infestations of the New World Screwworm, which poses an emerging threat to U.S. livestock and food security.
The parasite infests warm-blooded animals and in rare cases humans, causing tissue damage and occasionally death. Though eradicated in both North and Central America a decades ago, the screwworm has progressed north since 2022 and is nearing the U.S. southern border.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it issued a declaration on Tuesday allowing the FDA to issue emergency use authorizations for animal drugs to prevent infestations.
“Today, we are taking decisive action to safeguard the nation’s food supply from this emerging threat,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement.
“This authorization equips FDA to act quickly, limit the spread of New World Screwworm and protect America’s livestock.”
Endemic to Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic and the countries of South America, the New World Screwworm strikingly resembles a fly, but when in its larval stage it burrows into the flies of a living animals, such as livestock, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.
The United States has worked with Panama for decades to prevent the parasite’s northward expansion, according to the USDA, which resulted in the eradication of the insect from the United States in 1966.
There are no FDA-approved drugs for NWS, but through an Emergency Use Authorization, the FDA can permit the use of certain animal drug products that have been approved for other purposes or are available in other countries.
“This emergency use authorization is another tool we can use in the fight against New World Screwworm,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said.
“Our cattle ranchers and livestock producers are relying on the Trump administration to defend their livelihoods. Stopping this pest is a national security priority and we are linking arms across President [Donald] Trump’s Cabinet to defend our borders and push back this threat.”
