The US has a new center in Texas to disperse sterile screwworm flies to
block a parasite it spawns
[February 10, 2026]
By JOHN HANNA and ERIC GAY
EDINBURG, Texas (AP) The first center for dispersing sterile screwworm
flies from U.S. soil in decades opened Monday in Texas, part of a larger
effort to keep the flesh-eating parasite they spawn from crossing the
Mexican border and wreaking havoc on the American cattle industry.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
unveiled the new facility on a former Air Force base near Edinburg,
Texas. It will allow the U.S. to disperse millions of sterile male New
World screwworm flies bred in Mexico or Panama on both sides of the
border.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is building a new $750 million
factory nearby for breeding sterile flies, but Rollins said construction
on the fly factory won't be done until the end of 2027. The USDA also is
spending $21 million to convert a fruit fly breeding facility in far
southern Mexico into one for breeding screwworm flies starting this
summer.
The sterile male flies would mate with wild females, who mate only once
in their weekslong adult lives. Their eggs, laid in open wounds or on
mucous membranes, would then not hatch into the flesh-eating maggots
that can infest livestock, wild mammals, household pets and even humans.
It's a real testament to the all hands on deck federal state and
local the fact that we do not have the pest in our country yet,
Rollins said.
In November, the USDA opened a facility in Tampico in central Mexico for
dispersing Panama-bred flies. However, it is about 330 miles (530
kilometers) south of the U.S.-Mexico border.
We knew we needed a short-term, gap-filling solution, which is exactly
what we are cutting a ribbon on today, Abbott said.
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A test container of dyed fly pupae are displayed at a Domestic New
World Screwworm Sterile Fly Production Facility to combat the
northward spread of NWS and protect American livestock, in Edinburg,
Texas, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
 The Mexican cattle industry has been
hit hard by New World screwworm fly larvae infestations, and the
U.S. has closed the border since July to imports of cattle, bison
and horses.
A similar program breeding sterile male flies had largely eradicated
the pest from American soil by the early 1970s, except for a
limited, short-lived outbreak in the Florida Keys in 2017 and its
appearance recently when officials blocked a horse being imported
from Argentina into Florida until the animal was fully treated,
Rollins said.
The U.S. shut down its fly factories after eliminating the pest from
its soil, and sterile males have been bred since in the Western
Hemisphere only at a single facility in Panama, which can produce
about 117 million a week. The new fly factory in Texas would be
designed to produce 300 million a week.
The USDA also announced last month that it is offering up to $100
million in grants for projects designed to improve fly breeding,
create new fly traps and lures, and produce treatments for
infestations.
___
Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas.
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