The CDC and Maryland Department of Health confirmed on Aug. 4 the first U.S. human case of travel-associated New World screwworm myiasis in a patient who returned from El Salvador. New World screwworm is a parasitic fly whose larvae feed on the tissue of warm-blooded animals, primarily livestock and rarely humans. Human infestations can be painful and carry high mortality if untreated due to attracting more flies, extensive tissue damage, and risk of sepsis or invasion into vulnerable tissues. The insect is not contagious between people. Detection in Mexican cattle has increased federal livestock vigilance and protections.
The U.S. has confirmed its first human case of the New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite whose northward creep from South America has put the country's cattle industry on high alert in recent months. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in coordination with the Maryland Department of Health, confirmed the case on Aug. 4 in a patient who had returned from travel to El Salvador, Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon told NPR on Monday.
He says infestation in humans can be "quite painful," with high mortality rates if left untreated. "Because once an infestation starts, that often attracts more flies that lay more eggs," he explains. "And depending where the wound is, the maggots can make their way into vulnerable tissue like the brain, or the wound can get quite big and then you get sepsis."
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