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Health|Human Case of Flesh-Eating Screwworm Reported in Maryland
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/health/infection-screwworm-maryland.html
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The patient had traveled to Central America, where an outbreak of myiasis, an infection by screwworm larvae, has been ravaging livestock.
Aug. 26, 2025, 2:46 p.m. ET
In early August, a case of myiasis, an infestation caused by the New World screwworm, was confirmed in a Maryland resident who returned from travel in El Salvador, according to U.S. health officials.
It is the first travel-associated case of myiasis in the United States related to a recent outbreak among cattle and humans in Mexico and Central America, said Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, in an emailed press statement. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the case after experts reviewed images of the larvae on Aug. 4, Mr. Nixon said.
The Maryland resident has recovered from the infection, said David McCallister, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Health, in an emailed press statement. A state and federal investigation confirmed that no other individuals or animals were affected, and that the risk to public and animal health in Maryland from this introduction was very low, Mr. McCallister said. He added that the case was a timely reminder for health care providers and livestock owners to remain vigilant.
For decades, the screwworm ravaged the American livestock industry. Screwworm flies are attracted to and lay eggs in open wounds; on hatching, the larvae burrow into the wound and feed on living flesh, causing extensive and painful damage. Once the larvae mature, they drop to the ground, burrow into the soil and emerge as adult screwworm flies.
A screwworm fly can lay eggs in any warm-blooded animal, including wildlife, domestic pets and people. Human cases are rare but not unknown, and they can be fatal.
Since the 1970s, the screwworm has largely stayed out of the United States, kept at bay by a technique that mass-produced sterile flies and contained the screwworm’s range to as far south as Panama. But the parasite has slowly returned to Central America, and a series of outbreaks last year in Mexico prompted the U.S. and Mexican governments to explore “all options” to battle the resurgence.
