Unconfirmed US case of flesh-eating screwworm rattles cattle markets, traders say

By Cassandra Garrison, Heather Schlitz and Tom Polansek

CHICAGO/MEXICO CITY, June 3 (Reuters) – Samples of a suspected infestation of the flesh-eating screwworm parasite on a cattle farm in La Pryor, Texas, have been sent to a federal government lab in Iowa to be tested, Texas Representative Don McLaughlin said Wednesday.  

The samples were taken from two calves on the same ranch on Tuesday, McLaughlin said, adding that he had seen photos and videos of the cases. 

A photo seen by Reuters, which McLaughlin confirmed as the same case, had been circulating among livestock producers earlier on Wednesday, rattling cattle futures. Reuters could not immediately verify the photo.

The Texas Animal Health Commission told Reuters on Wednesday that there has been no confirmed case of New World screwworm in Texas.        The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is leading the screwworm prevention effort in the United States, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Earlier in the week the agency said that McLaughlin, who had said that a case was confirmed one mile south of the Texas border, had inaccurate information. The USDA confirmed a case 25 miles south of the Texas border in Coahuila state on Tuesday. 

(Reporting by Cassandra Garrison in Mexico City and Heather Schlitz and Tom Polansek in Chicago. Editing by Emily Schmall)