The United States has reported the first-ever case of the flesh-eating screwworm parasite in a Maryland resident.
According to Reuters, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Sunday, August 24, announced that an American has been detected with New World screwworm, the first human case in the country.
The person detected with the flesh-eating parasite travelled from Guatemala, a Central American country dealing with the outbreak of the parasite along with southern Mexico.
HHS spokesman Andrew G. Nixon, in an email to Reuters, said that the Maryland Department of Health and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention investigated the case, which was confirmed by the CDC earlier this month on August 4.
However, he noted, “The risk to public health in the United States from this introduction is very low.”
It is worth noting that the US government did not report any confirmed cases of the New World screwworm fly in animals this year.
What are screwworms?
Screwworms are parasitic flies that target warm-blooded animals, including cattle, wildlife, and rarely, humans.
Female screwworms lay eggs in open wounds, and after the eggs hatch, hundreds of larvae feed on living tissue using their sharp mouthparts. If not treated timely, the infestation can be fatal.
