County adopts resolution calling for federal Screwworm fly eradication, treatment action

Gonzales County took steps Monday, June 9, to battle the threat of a New World Screwworm fly infestation that could devastate the livestock industry in Texas and throughout the nation.

The commissioners court adopted a resolution calling for immediate federal action to combat the screwworm fly threat while Emergency Management Director Jimmy Harless said the Texas Animal Health Commission is expected to hold a training and information session at the JB Wells Expo Center in Gonzales within the next few weeks about the New World Screwworm fly (Cochliomyia hominivorax).

Commissioners also heard a report about human health in Gonzales County from Laura Werner with the Texas Department of State Health Services Region 8 office in Hallettsville.

Screwworm

In May, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced the suspension of live cattle, horse, and bison imports through U.S. ports of entry along the southern border due to the continued and rapid northward spread of New World Screwworm (NWS) in Mexico.

The first case of NWS in Mexico was reported to the U.S. in November 2024. When NWS fly larvae (maggots) burrow into the flesh of a living animal, they cause serious, often deadly damage to the animal. NWS can infest livestock, pets, wildlife, occasionally birds, and in rare cases, people and can be transmitted by wild or domesticated animals.

Over the last two years, the Screwworm has spread north throughout Panama and into Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize, and now Mexico.

The resolution adopted Monday by the court notes the spread of the New World Screwworm fly “poses an imminent and severe threat to the livestock, wildlife, and economic stability of Texas, with projections indicating its arrival in Texas by July 2025 and movement to the Canadian border by the end of the summer.”

Treatment options are believe to be “severely limited, with the Sterile Insect Technique unavailable due to insufficient capacity at the USDA's Panama facility, leaving macrocyclic lactones (such as Ivermectin, Doramectin, Eprinomectin, Abamectin and Selamectin) as the only viable solution.”

Livestock feed manufacturers are prepared to incorporate Ivermectin dry premix into feed for livestock and wildlife to help curb the infestation, but lack FDA and USDA authorization to access dry premix that is used in other government programs.

The resolution calls on President Trump and federal officials to “authorize the immediate production and distribution of millions of doses of Ivermectin dry premix for use by livestock feed manufacturers and mobilize and convert existing military or federal facilities to breed sterile New World screwworm flies, ensuring operational readiness within two weeks.”

Gonzales would be an area that could be heavily impacted due to the presence not only of large populations of chicken farms but also the Graham Land and Cattle Co. feed lot that handles not only native but Mexican cattle as well as Wagyu and Japanese-influenced cattle and has the capacity to feed 30,000 head and background another 15,000 head.

The Texas Farm Bureau estimates that agriculture contributes nearly $868 billion to the Texas economy, while hunting and wildlife management generates more than $4.6 billion just from deer hunting alone and adds more than $446 million in tax revenue to state coffers.

Annual health report

Warner introduced Sabrina Pond, the new community health specialist who is also working out of the Hallettsville Public Health Region 8 office. Dr. Lillian Ringsdorf is the current Region 8 medical director, while Gail Morrow is the deputy regional director.

Warner said in 2024, there were 34 foodborne illnesses, three vaccine-preventable diseases, 110 newly reported STDs, one exposure to tuberculosis and two positive rabies animals.

“We continue to support our local schools, healthcare providers and hospitals regarding immunizations and notifiable disease conditions,” Warner said. “This past year, we held a back to school immunizations clinic at Gonzales ISD for those students who are eligible through the Texas vaccines for children's program and 28 students were served at this event with a total of 95 vaccines that were administered. In addition, routine vaccines and HIV and STD testing and treatment services can always be found available at our hospital office for children and adults.”

Warner said she and Pond are both part of the DSHS Community Health Improvement Program, which focuses on “addressing the health and well-being of mothers and children, and it includes providing education on safe sleep, breastfeeding, nutrition, smoking cessation and child injury prevention.”

“We are also both members of your local COPE committee, and starting in July, we will be here in Gonzales at the new Community Health Center every first Wednesday of the month,” Warner added. “We hope this will allow us to be more available to provide education and resources on these maternal child health topics. And as a car passenger safety technician, I also personally hope to be able to educate and assist more parents with seat installations in car seat education.”

Warner thanked County Judge Pat Davis and the rest of the commissioners court for continuing to support the Texas Department of State Health Services.

“Our mission is always to protect and improve the health and well-being of people in Gonzales County as well as Region 8, and without your support, we would not be able to meet this goal so thank you,” she said.