The measure is aimed at exterminating a flesh-eating bug that could devastate the country's beef industry

US authorities are preparing to release billions of flies from airplanes over Mexico and southern Texas to stop the spread of a dangerous parasite, the Associated Press (AP) has reported. The move aims to protect livestock, wildlife, and household pets from a flesh-eating maggot.

Unlike most flies that feed on rotting or dead tissue, the screwworm fly poses a far greater threat as it lays its eggs in open wounds or mucous membranes of living warm-blooded animals and humans. Once hatched, the larvae burrow into the flesh, feeding on living tissue from the inside out, often causing severe infections or death if left untreated.

"A thousand-pound bovine can be dead from this in two weeks," Michael Bailey, president-elect of the American Veterinary Medical Association, told the news agency.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is reportedly planning to mass-breed adult male flies, sterilize them using radiation, and release them into the wild. The sterile males will mate with wild females, producing no offspring and gradually wiping out the parasite population.

"It's an exceptionally good technology," said Edwin Burgess, an assistant professor at the University of Florida who studies parasites. He added that it could help solve "some kind of large problem."

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The measure is seen as a more effective and environmentally friendly method of disinsectization than spraying pesticides, the AP noted, adding that other nations north of Panama eradicated the same pest decades ago. Sterile flies from a factory in the Central American state reportedly kept the dangerous insects contained there for years, but they reappeared in southern Mexico at the end of 2024.

According to the AP, the USDA will launch a new screwworm fly facility in southern Mexico as soon as next summer, with a fly distribution center expected to begin operating by the end of the current year. This will enable the US to import and distribute flies from Panama if necessary. The department is reportedly planning to spend some $8.5 million on the Texas facility and $21 million to convert a site in southern Mexico, currently used for breeding sterile fruit flies, into one for screwworm flies.