PA House Agriculture and Rural Affairs — 2026-06-23

Are they responding? Bernie? Bernie, just your presence. Bernie, just your presence created this correction.

Paula do you want to call roll just so that we know who's here

It's all yours.

Okay. How's that? Are we good online?

All right, good morning, everyone. My name is Erin Luley. I'm the Assistant State Veterinarian for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. Thank you for the opportunity to share our information this morning about New World Screwworm. Next slide, please.

I do want to note that there are some images in this presentation that some may find very graphic. These are photos of real cases. I do think it's important that we're aware of the extent of the damage that this parasite can cause. I will try to give a warning before we pull up some of the more serious images before we get to those. All images contained here are courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and available at screwworm.gov, unless otherwise noted. So what we'll go over here is the basics of New World Screwworm, including the life cycle and how that relates to control, the history of what we've seen with this parasite, the economic threat that it poses, and why we should be concerned about this, The current status, and I'll also note that Dr. Hoke from the U.S. Department of Agriculture has more information on this. We'll touch on what we're doing nationally and specifically here in PA to prepare and hopefully prevent this disease, and we'll also talk about reporting and some other resources that we have available. Cochleomyoporox is the scientific name for New World Screwworm. This fly is in the blowfly family. A unique feature of this fly is that it feeds on living tissue, which differentiates it from many other flies that can result in maggots that we might see either on dead tissue or potentially in the environment. New World Screwworm is different from those other species of fly. There's four life stages of this fly, starting with at the top, the eggs, which are laid in a characteristic shingle pattern. A female can lay 100 to 400 eggs, um, in a single wound. Um, the next stage is the larval stage which is uh the clinical manifestation of New World screwworm screwworm the larva or maggots that feed on tissue These larva can bury into tissue and thus giving the name screwworm. The next stage is pupa, which drop off from the wound into the ground. These can survive in warmer temperatures. The good news for us here in Pennsylvania is that the pupa cannot survive in the environment when it drops below freezing. So while we are here at risk in the Pennsylvania summers, unfortunately the Pennsylvania winters would break the life cycle here. A life cycle can be completed in about 21 days. Larva can hatch in about 12 to 24 hours and feed in a wound for five to seven days. The adults live for two to three weeks and can fly up to about 12 miles, and that 12-mile flight zone is what establishes the control measures of the boundaries of an infested zone should we have a case. Next slide, please. So this is, I apologize, one of the more graphic images. This is a dog that was identified by the USDA. This is not the case that was reported recently. This is a more historic image. But what's shown here is the multitude of larvae in a wound. These larvae can be visible by three days after deposition of eggs in the wound by an adult fly. They're about one to two centimeters long. One characteristic of this infection, infestation, which I've fortunately not experienced but have heard from other veterinarians that it's quite characteristic. Infestation with new world screwworm apparently gives a very characteristic malodorous scent that resembles rotting liver. Because of the severe tissue damage and secondary infection and pain and other systemic effects, infested animals typically will die within one to two weeks if this is not treated. The good news, fortunately, is that this is a treatable condition. We often see that there's co-infestation with other species of maggots that might appear at the surface of the wound, which is important in terms of clinical diagnosis and collecting samples. There's no definitive clinical signs that are specific to New World screwworm, except for the characteristic larva that are visible in the wound. There was a canine case diagnosed in New Mexico. And the veterinarian who diagnosed that case was apparently clued into clinical suspicion of New World Screwworm because of the smell of the infested wound on this particular dog. These larvae do not feed on dead tissue, again, which is a characteristic of New World Screwworm. Common sites of infection include the navels of newborn animals. In favorable environments that are warm and humid, up to 100% of newborn animals will be infested with New World Screwworm if it's present in the environment. Wounds from castration, ear tagging, other routine husbandry practices in livestock present wounds that can be infested by New World Screwworm. They can also infest on mucous membranes, the eyes, genitals, other areas that are exposed. And wounds even as small as a tick bite can become infested with neural screwworm Why this is so critical to control This pest has the potential to cause very severe economic impact There a report from the Merck Manual that an estimated billion are lost annually in South America from production losses from this pest. Currently, the southern border between the U.S. and Mexico is closed to cattle, bison, and horses. Combined with other factors, this has caused decreased flow of cattle into the U.S. We're currently at record low cattle inventory here in the U.S., and we are seeing very high cattle prices right now, and that's translating to elevated beef prices in the supermarket as well. So estimates from the USDA include an annual cost of $540 million to producers and consumers should we become infested in the U.S. This cost is related to loss of animals, decreased production from infested animals, as well as the associated treatment costs, and an estimate of $1.27 billion to eradicate this from the U.S. No problem. We'll go to slide 8, please.

So while the most commonly infested species is cattle, any warm-blooded animal can be affected by New World screwworm. This includes people. This is a zoonotic infection. Any species of livestock and also poultry can be infested. There was a travel-associated case reported last year in Maryland that resulted from an individual who had traveled to an endemic country and came back to the U.S. with an infestation. The good news is that this is not a foodborne infection. There's no risk of transmission through food. The food supply is safe. It's also important to note that based on the infestation cycle, one animal cannot directly cause an infestation in another. Infestation is spread through the adult flies, and that, again, is relevant when we talk about the control measures. Next slide, please. So this pest was previously endemic in our southern states. The U.S. was declared free of infestation in 1966. There have been several incursions since then, including an outbreak in Texas in 1976, which then costs $132 million. Today's cost, that's an estimate of $750 million. It was eradicated from Mexico in 1991, but we have seen incursion spreading northward in the last approximately year. So eradication depends on the sterile fly technique. The sterile insect technique, again, relies on the life cycle of this parasite to implement control measures. A key feature of the New World Screwworm Life Cycle is that female adult flies mate only once. So a technique has been developed to irradiate male flies so that they are sterile and release those flies into the environment. By releasing a large number of sterile male flies into the environment, this can effectively break the life cycle and reduce the frequency of infections and propagation of the life cycle in livestock. and other domestic animals. This technique was developed in the 1950s, and it is currently being used in the southern states as well as Central America and Mexico. One of the limiting factors of this technique is the production of these sterile flies, which currently can only be done at one facility in Panama. There are efforts in place to increase production with a new facility in Texas. but production is not yet active. So the current control infestation areas, they're relying on flies that are moved up from the facility in Panama. An overview of the current situation, and I'll defer to Dr. Hoke for more information on this. We currently have 12 cases in Texas and one in eastern New Mexico. Each case, there's a minimum of a 12-mile infested zone placed around that case. Several of these cases have been deemed inactive based on successful treatment or removal of the infested animal. However, the infested zone that relates to movement controls of animals in that area and control with the sterile insect technique remain in place for these infested areas. An overview of cases in Mexico and the associated areas of dispersal of the sterile insects can be seen here. We've seen an increase in cases spreading northward over the last few months, including the recent cases that have been found in Texas and New Mexico. What are we doing here in the Department of Agriculture to prepare for this? We are relying on guidance from the USDA found in the Green Book, the New World Screwworm Response Plan, and its associated playbook. We've developed a state-specific response plan that details the actions that we would take in the case of an emergence in Pennsylvania. And we've also issued an interstate international movement order earlier this month to detail additional requirements and restrictions of animals that would be moving from infested zones. Currently, animals that are in infested zone require a seven-day inspection by a veterinarian prior to movement. animals from currently infected premises are not allowed to be moved to Pennsylvania until that case has been successfully resolved certain classes of animals require treatment prior to movement into Pennsylvania New World screwworm is a reportable disease in Pennsylvania under the domestic animal law so any cases that would be found in Pennsylvania must be reported to us at the Department of Agriculture and this would initiate responses detailed in our response plan. The most likely risk right now to Pennsylvania is incursion from animals that are imported into Pennsylvania, whether livestock moving through various channels, or also potentially pets that have come from endemic areas that would be traveling back here to Pennsylvania. Currently we are free of disease and we hope to keep it that way Some of the actions that we currently taking here at the Department of Agriculture include ongoing outreach to Pennsylvania veterinarians We feel that right now there is high level of awareness of this condition among the veterinary community. We're also working to continue outreach to producers, as well as at points of high risk of introduction, including our livestock auctions and markets. And we're also working to increase surveillance for appropriate movement documentation and other preventive measures at our livestock auctions. We're in coordination with several other agencies, including USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services, both the Veterinary Services Branch, where Dr. Hoke is, and Wildlife Services as well, and our Food Safety and Inspection Services. We've already investigated several suspect cases. These cases have been deemed low risk, but we followed through on the appropriate procedures to refer these to the National Lab for official confirmation. And again, all of these cases that have been reported to date, suspects, have been deemed to not be New World Screwworm. Our staff are equipped to investigate and submit these cases. We're also building on our lessons learned from highly pathogenic avian influenza. The good news for New World Screwworm compared to HPAI is that this disease is treatable, unlike HPAI. Culling of infested animals is not necessary, fortunately. But there are infestation zones which are similar to the control areas that we've seen with HPAI. And based on our experiences there, we're prepared to set up and enforce these infested zones. We're also working to build capacity with entomologists in the state to further our ability to quickly diagnose these cases should we have any suspects. And we're also working with our partner agencies to, again, coordinate messaging and preparedness. Again, as this is a reportable disease, The first call from any producers or veterinarians with concerns about this disease should be to us here at the Department of Agriculture, and our staff is prepared to respond to any reports of New World Screwworm. We have information available on our lab's website, which is the QR code linked here. The sample collection and submission is fortunately a fairly simple process without a whole lot of specific lab equipment needed, But we do need the expertise of parasitologists or entomologists to help facilitate diagnosis. And that is the information that I have at this point, and I'm happy to address any questions whether now or after Dr. Hoek's presentation. Thank you.

Yep, great.

Yes, just give me one second to share my slides, and hopefully you all can hear me.

Okay, and let me know when my slides are showing. The first slide is U.S. response to New World Screwworms.

So thank you all for giving me the opportunity to speak with you today. I'm Dr. Kelly Hoke. I the District Emergency Coordinator for USDA APHIS Veterinary Services I responsible for both Pennsylvania and West Virginia and I apologize for not being able to be there in person today but a prior commitment kept me on the western side of the state, so I hope we're going to be able to do this virtually. I'm just going to pause for a minute here on the slide. The green blob in the middle of the screen is actually a New World screwworm. That is a pupil stage of the New World screwworm, and the reason it's dyed that color green is that's actually a sterile New World Screwworm pupae, and we use that in the sterile insect technique. We dye them that fluorescent color because that is one way when they hatch out, they retain some of that fluorescent dye. And when we do the trapping, that's a way we can tell whether we're trapping one of the sterile flies versus a wild version of the New World Screwworm. So we can do that using our fly surveillance to make sure our technique is working. So So I didn't want you all to wonder why that fluorescent green blob was on the screen, but to explain a little bit of how that sterile insect technique takes effect that Dr. Lully just mentioned, I wanted to tell you that as we're doing our fly surveillance, that's how we can tell the difference between whether it's one of our sterile flies versus a wild New World screwworm as we get into our surveillance. So again, thank you for having me today. I'm going to go over a little bit more of our national response, some of the efforts that we're doing for New World Screwworm on a national level, as well as give some updated information on the number of cases we have. But I did want to go over some key reminders. This is a parasite, not a pathogen. Some of our response efforts, while they're similar to things that we've done for highly pathogenic avian influenza, they are going to be a little bit different because this is a parasite, not a bacteria or a virus. It does not spread from animal to animal like a virus does or a bacteria does. It relies upon the New World screwworm fly laying eggs in a wound of a warm-blooded animal. So our techniques on how we control and eradicate it are a little bit different than how it would look if we were handling something such as a virus or a bacteria. Our U.S. food supply is safe. It is not transmitted through meat, poultry, or dairy products. So we do want to make sure our consumers are aware that we are safe in eating meat, poultry, or dairy products. The New World Screwworm does not affect those products. For more than a year, USDA has led a unified national response effort. It has deployed enhanced surveillance, strengthened its border defense strategy, and supported cross-border operations in Mexico and Central America. These efforts have bought critical time and ensured the United States is better prepared to respond to the New World Screwworm detections. protections. Under Secretary Rollins' leadership and through her work within the department, as well as our cooperation with state, federal, tribal, and industry partners, we've held it off until now where we are far more prepared to respond. USDA has not wasted any time in this fight, and we have defeated New World Screwworm before, and we're going to do it again. We're very confident that we will do it. As Dr. Lilley mentioned, Cochlea myoomnivorax is the technical name for the New World screwworm fly. This translates to man-eater, which gives you a clue about how this pest can impact both people and animals. Females only lay eggs on live animals, and the larva feed on living tissue, which makes it different than many of the other blowflies that we have common in the United States. Once the animal dies the larva will drop off and although older larva may continue to feed for a few days on the dead tissue they will eventually drop off So this is different than again many of the blowflies we have in the United States as it feeds on live, warm-blooded animals, not dead animals. Dr. Lilly showed a slide of our United States New World Screwworm Confirmed Detection Dashboard. I pulled the data as of this morning. As of this morning, we now have 16 total confirmed cases in the United States. On June 3rd, we confirmed the first active domestic case of new world screwworm in the last 60 years in South Texas, and that excluded the localized Florida key deer outbreak in 2016 and 2017. That first case was in a three-day-old calf in Zavala County, Texas, as was previously mentioned, but with rapid detection and action, the calf has since recovered. It's a reminder of how essential vigilance and rapid action and collaboration are to protect the health of our animals and our communities. Many scientific models had projected that the pest would reach the U.S. last year. Our sustained engagement by the USDA has delayed the pest northward movement far longer than initial projection suggested was possible. These efforts had bought critical time and ensured that the United States was better prepared to respond to any detections that we have gotten. The USDA has been working with our partners and will continue to work in a forward-leaning posture. We're prepared to take decisive action to contain the spread of New World Screwworm by implementing rapid response and on-site operations, increasing surveillance and detection, targeting sterile fly dispersal and containment, and deploying available treatment, resources, and supplies. You may find the most up-to-date information on the confirmed detections of New World Screwworm on screwworm.gov under the Current Status tab, and that publicly available dashboard is updated daily at 6 p.m. Eastern Time. USDA, alongside New Mexico and Texas state governments, continue to work together implementing actions outlined in the New World Screwworm Response Playbook that Dr. Lully mentioned earlier. This includes maintaining a 20-kilometer infested zone with quarantines, movement controls, and heightened surveillance around the initial detection and establishing a new 20-kilometer infested zone around any latest detections. Increasing trapping along the border and outside the dispersal zones, conducting surveillance and management strategies in wildlife, and implementing targeted outreach to local producers, veterinarians, and communities. The New World Screwworm Response Playbook, which is available on our website, which you can get through from screwworm.gov, focuses on eight key areas which support our overall response strategy of protecting uninfested animals from contact with New World Screwworm flies and disrupting the reproduction cycle to prevent establishment of New World Screwworm populations. The playbook lays out clear, science-based steps for coordinating efforts across agencies and partners, slowing or stopping the spread of the pest, treating affected animals, conducting fly surveillance and control, keeping business operating safely during a response, and sharing timely information so that everyone understands the situation. Effective eradication requires a three-pronged approach. Robust active field surveillance with education and outreach to ensure prevention, treatment, and early detection. Controlled animal movement to limit spread and sustained sterile insect dispersal. We cannot achieve eradication with sustained sterile insect dispersal alone. The first pillar includes surveillance and outreach. USDA is using a layered surveillance system including animal inspections, trapping, wildlife monitoring, and sterile fly releases. Rapid reporting from producers, pet owners, and veterinarians is essential to this. We need eyes on the ground to catch the pest early and prevent further spread. The second pillar is movement controls. A significant contributing factor to the spread of New World Screwworm is the movement of animals. USDA is working closely with state and tribal animal health officials to establish infested zones and implement quarantines, movement controls, and surveillance in the affected areas. The third pillar is the sterile insect technique, And I'm going to go over that in the next few slides. Similar to other disease outbreaks, zones are established around a New World Scrum Worm detection, whether that's an infested animal or a fly detection. These zones are shown on the right-hand side of the screen and are the basis for our surveillance, control, and eradication efforts. As you can see, there will be a 20-kilometer zone around the animal or fly detection, which will be noted as the infested zone. And in that zone, we will do animal and fly surveillance plus established quarantine and movement requirements. That is the suggestion that it's up to the state animal health official who has the quarantine authority to implement that particular power under their purview. Outside of that will be an adjacent surveillance zone of 20 kilometers in which animal and fly surveillance will take place. Outside of that, up to 200 kilometers, based upon the fly habitat and geographic range, will be an additional fly surveillance zone. So this is a bit different than what we're used to from what we've done with highly pathogenic avian influenza. Throughout these zones, we will be monitoring the spread of New World screwworm, as well as monitoring the efficacy of our sterile insect technique, with the ultimate goal of providing evidence and freedom from New World screwworm. So how do we do that? The sterile insect technique is a proven tool for fighting the spread of New World Screwworm and protecting American agricultural and natural resources. SIT was developed in the 1950s and used to eradicate New World Screwworm from the United States, Mexico, and Central America in the second half of the 20th century. Since February 10th of this year, USDA has dispersed flies over southern Texas using aerial, ground release chambers, and vehicle dispersal methods. As part of the established New World Screwworm Eradication Strategy, USDA began releasing sterile flies over the recent detection in Texas on June 4th. These missions dispersed 2 million sterile screwworm flies twice a week to disrupt the pet's life cycle, in addition to the millions of flies that had already been released in southern Texas since February of 2026. Additional dispersal aircraft moved from Mexico to Texas during June 6th to 7th. USDA moved three dispersal planes from Mexico to South Texas to expand the range of our aerial releases during that time frame based on that first detection. The dispersal grids are continually evaluated to cover the additional cases that have been detected. COPEG which is the production facility in Panama is where the PUPES shipments have come to increase and support expanded aerial release The USDA started shipping pupae from COPEG to the McAllen International Airport dispersal facility six days a week to support dispersal flights that operate Monday through Saturday once the detections occurred in early June. USDA started a pupae processing at the Moore Air Base in Texas to support those ongoing operations. On the week of June 8th, the Moore Air Base began processing approximately 36.6 million pupae to support the sterile insect dispersals. Ground release chambers were deployed with the capacity to release millions of sterile insects weekly. Four million sterile flies are released by a strategically placed ground release chambers weekly in and around the detection zone in Texas to maximize the impact. So we're flooding that area with sterile flies to try to control, contain, and eradicate it from the area. As mentioned previously, that third pillar for screwworm eradication is sustained sterile insect dispersal. USDA is investing significantly to renovate existing New World screwworm sterile fly facilities and construct new facilities in the U.S. and Mexico to stop the spread of New World screwworm. We currently have a fully operational sterile fly production facility in Panama, the Copag facility, which produces approximately 100 million sterile flies per week. This is the one Dr. Lully mentioned in her presentation. We're also, the USDA, is investing to help retrofit an existing fruit fly facility in Metapa, Mexico, and it's on track to open later this month with a staged increase in production with an end goal of 100 million sterile flies per week. There is also a sterile fly dispersal facility operational out of the Moore Air Base in Texas as well as construction of a new production facility at the Moore Air Base and it's underway at that location as well. The initial goal for completion of the production facility in the U.S. was December of 2027, but we're working towards opening that facility sooner. Unlike other foreign animal diseases, New World's screwware miasis can be treated and the animals may recover. That's what happened with the calf that was diagnosed on June 3rd. But because it is a foreign animal disease, there have been no drugs or pesticides currently labeled to treat or prevent New World screw worm infestations. FDA and EPA are working to conditionally approve more drugs in the EPA to register more pesticides, and the USDA is working hand-in-hand with them to make sure this happens to get more tools to our veterinarians, farmers, and animal health officials. Screwworm.gov contains a pesticide list for New World Screwworm and other blowflies. These products can be used as labeled, but we ask those that are using them to be careful that they do not use on non-labeled sites, such as bags, carcasses, etc., and to take care that the environmental cautions, state licensing, personal protective equipment, and withholding periods are read and followed. The EPA has granted APHIS an emergency exemption for Tannidyl and the FDA for Negasant. Both of these products a pesticide and a treatment are going to be available through the USDA National Veterinary Stockpile for infected states The take message that we are giving out is that you don need to look for the New World screwworm flies They look very similar to some other blowflies that we have here in the U.S. They are a metallic green and sheen. They look common to some of our other blowflies. What we do ask people to look for is to look for your animals and signs of a New World screwworm infestation. Dr. Lully went over those clinical signs in her presentation. One of those is that god-awful odor that comes out of an infested wound. We ask people to regularly inspect your animals and to report those suspected cases right away if they notice anything unusual. Dr. Lully went through the procedures in Pennsylvania of how to report, but you can also visit screwworm.gov to get the reporting procedures for USDA as well. Our line here in Pennsylvania is manned, and we'll ring to our lines, either myself or Dr. Alex Zinger, and we will answer from the USDA perspective and work closely with our PDA colleagues to get someone out to do an investigation. If it's a wildlife case, you can call 866-4USDA Wildlife Services. And if you're a human with a suspected case of screw worm, we ask that you work with your physician or seek immediate medical treatment because, as I mentioned earlier, these will infest any wound on any worm-blooded animal. So humans are not immune to this pest. Rapid reporting from producers, pet owners, and veterinarians is essential. We need eyes on the ground to catch the pest early if it does come to Pennsylvania. We're hoping that is not the case, but there are not enough of us out there to inspect every animal, so we are asking for our producers, pet owners, and veterinarians help in this fight. Reporting unlocks immediate support and resources both on the state and federal side, and there are approved effective treatments available for animals, and animals that get prompt treatment recover fully and quickly. Reporting does not halt operations trigger calling of animals. So this is not like high path AI where we will need to call a large number of animals. We can treat this disease if caught early enough. For USDA, our screwworm.gov has made a one-stop shop for a wide variety of individuals, whether you're a healthcare provider, veterinarian, or the general public. There are outreach materials posted on the website geared towards your audience of choice that are available for download, for print, or even to put on print media. Additionally, the current status tab there will take you to the dashboard, which again is updated at 6 p.m. Eastern time with our current case count. As of right now, we still have the one dog case in New Mexico. The other 15 cases are in Texas at this time. But there is some other additional information on there that'll take you to other government resources for New World Screwworm. So if you click on the healthcare providers, that'll take you to CDC resources. It'll take you to EPA. It'll take you to FDA. It's the one-stop shop for our unified government response. And with that, I thank you again for allowing me to present to you. Any questions can be directed to our directorate at aphis.newwordscrewworm.program at USDA.gov, or I be happy to take some questions now Thank you very much Dr Hoke I am going to open it up to the members for questions Both of your presentations were extremely informative

Mr. Chairman? Thank you. I assume because I'm co-chair here, I get to go first. How does Wonder Dust work on this? Can it be used as a preventative measure, or can it be used as a treatment, or is it no use at all to either one of you?

All right. So there are right now only a few products that have a label claim for New World's Growworm. So our advice to veterinarians and producers is to take a look at those labels. If there are concerns that we need to treat something for New World Screwworm, that should be reported to us for investigation. But with the relatively few number of products that have that label, both from the EPA or from FDA as appropriate, it is important to be reading those labels and following what's on those.

The main concern is transmission via animals that are infested with the larva that would then be able to create ongoing infestation in an area. If those larvae mature, pupate, and then release adult flies, because of the short life cycle, the risk with importing the adult flies is less of a concern.

About 21 days for the adult flies. Once they become a fly from the larva, they've got three weeks and then they're gone.

Thank you. Dr. Hoke, would you care to add anything?

Pennsylvania. Thank you, Dr. Hoke. Representative Hamdage. Thank you. As we've been surveilling this

As for the state legislature, I defer to Dr. Lilley.

So I just want to clarify. So if my horse gets New World screw worm, I'm not likely to hear from my vet, oh, the federal government said that this can be used, but Pennsylvania law won't allow me to give you access to this drug? No, that's not going to be an issue. Okay, thank you.

Dr. Hoke, you want to make a comment on that, Dr. Hoke? Nope. Okay. Representative Stambaugh.

I have limited information that I can answer for that but they using similar tactics to what we would be using which would be the sterile insect technique the release of the sterile insect techniques That what they used before as well as movement controls and animal controls and inspection So they using some of the similar pair pillars that we using, and we have provided personnel there to help support their response efforts as well.

I'll just defer to Dr. Hoke on this one since it was directed to USDA.

Correct. We are collaborating with them.

They're using the similar techniques that we are. In terms of the scope of that, I don't have access to that information. But they're using sterile insect technique. They're using movement controls. They're using surveillance. and our international services, we provided money and support to them to use those same eradication things that we are using here in the United States.

Not that I'm aware of, sir.

Dr. Lilley?

Okay.

Sure, and I'll just correct. It's Deputy Grabeau. I'm not a doctor. So I'll defer to the experts here. But I can certainly take any questions. I will only say that we are responding well on the state side and the federal side to any questions that are coming from the public. We're working with local veterinarians, trying to do some outreach with producers and our livestock and sale barns. So we're just staying on top of it.

Mr. Chairman? This is just a curiosity thing.

This is primarily in the Americas. We've seen this endemic in South America and, again, spreading northward, But that's currently the main issue. But none in Africa or jungles, whatever. There is an old world screw worm but that fortunately not of pressing concern currently And they did have an introduction into Egypt at one time but we were able to use sterile insect technique to eradicate it before it was able to widely spread through Africa But Dr. Lilly is correct. That's how it got its name was New World Screwworm because it's primarily a disease of the Americas.

It's actually probably the most effective way for us to eradicate it because the male flies are able to breed more than once, whereas the females only breed once. So by releasing and flooding an area with the sterile males, they're able to breed with the female, and then they are not able to lay eggs, which breaks the reproductive cycle. So because of the biology of the fly, it actually is a really great way for us to be able to eradicate the fly. That's the one positive, I would say, out of the whole thing, and it's from the 1950s. The reason that it broke through the Darien Gap, which was the narrowest part of the Panamanian Peninsula, which is where we've been able to contain it for the longest period of time, is at the moment we're just not able to keep up with the amount of sterile flies that we need to because of the one production facility. That's why we're actively working to try to get the fruit fly facility in Mexico converted. And I believe it's going to be up, if not up already, at the end of June. And then we're really pushing to get the one more air base up and running before December of 2027 to get the amount of mail maxed out in Copaig right now. They produce a million sterile flies a week to get out into the zone in order for us to beat it back down into that Darien Gap, that very small area. We've not been able to eradicate it from South America for multiple reasons, the terrain, the agricultural, the political environment. So that was why we were able to get it down to that very narrowest part and keep it south of that Darien Gap part of the Panamanian Peninsula. We're hoping and hopeful with the additional production facilities that we'll be able to get it down, back down to where we were before.

I don't know that they throw their hands up. It's just because of all the different political entities down there as well as, again, the terrain, the agricultural. This lie really likes wet, humid, hot conditions. And so it's really hard for us to be able to break the cycle down in South America. Hence, their livestock down there is at much higher risk than ours.

And they've kind of learned to live with it, unfortunately.

No problem.

Thank you.

Representative Zimmerman? Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. I think my question mostly been answered by the question that Chairman Mal asked but I understand there a list of treatment on your website at USDA Is something like an ivermectin on there by chance

Dr. Luelling?

Thank you. Representative Parker. Good morning. Thank you for your presentation. Quick question. There was a recent visit spearheaded by our agriculture department that they met with our Philadelphia Zoo. Has there been a coalition of our zoos in Pennsylvania to let them know about what is happening and some type of collaboration so that we can kind of mitigate some type of panic? Because when I see these things, I don't know if I should start panicking or how do you kind of remain calm when you see types of outbreak? I know that people all think I'm over everything, but I just want to know how to be proactive and try to, you know, mitigate calm and these types of things when you really don't know how we can control it. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other questions? Well, this was extremely informative, very, very important, and we're going to have to test out that screwworm.gov website to make sure we get an idea of what's happening there. And if you didn't get enough pictures today, there's more there. You got to. OK, so that's important. So, Dr. Luley, Dr. Hogan, of course, Lisa Grabo, thank you very much for being here with us. Very informative. And with that, we are adjourned. So thank you all very much. Take care.

. . Thank you Thank you. Thank you.