Federal and Maryland health officials recently confirmed a case of New World screwworm in a person who traveled to El Salvador, where the worm’s larvae are present.
Screwworms cause a condition called myiasis; they are drawn to open wounds where they lay eggs, causing the infestation. The worms can affect both people and livestock according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Symptoms include unexplained wounds and sores that do not heal, worsening or painful wounds and sores, feeling larvae move within a wound, a sore, or the mouth, nose or eyes and seeing maggots in and around open wounds.
The CDC confirmed the case in concert with the Maryland Department of Health on Aug. 4, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. Officials monitored an area with a 20-mile radius around where the case was found, and did not detect any New World screwworm in wild animals or in livestock.
The patient, a Maryland resident, is recovering, the Maryland Department of Health told The Herald-Mail. Officials did not say where in Maryland the traveler lives.
The last New World screwworm outbreak in the U.S. occurred in the Florida Keys in 2017, the USDA said.
Another outbreak could cost states and livestock producers billions of dollars; the USDA estimates that, if screwworms got into Texas cattle herds, it could cost Texas $1.8 billion between labor and medical costs and livestock deaths, according to Reuters.
