Mexican flesh-eating parasite surged so fast that farmers in Texas, Mexico pour gasoline and lime on open cattle wounds

Isabel Mateos—APWith Mexican cattle again barred this month from entry to the United States over fears of spreading a flesh-eating parasite, ranchers and veterinarians in Mexico hundreds of miles from the border are fighting what has U, in today's market environment

Agricultural authorities so on edge (something worth watching)

Mexico is building a plant with U, in light of current trends

Support in Chiapas to duce sterile flies, which have ven effective at stopping the spread, but it won’t be ready until next year (which is quite significant)

Additionally, Meanwhile, the price of medicines used to treat stock infected with the screwworm have soared in price

That has led some to fall back on remedies applying gasoline or lime to open wounds to coax out the worms

In addition to the cost of the medicine, treatment requires careful monitoring and usually involves multiple courses

On the other hand, Any open wound, even very small ones, are an invitation to the fly to lay its eggs

He’s heard of dozens of cases in the area now and treated a dozen himself

It’s not just cows either — sheep, pigs, cats and dogs are targets as well (quite telling)

Nevertheless, Armed with a pair of blue tweezers and an aerosol spray that helps draw the maggots out, Chávez moves from animal to animal

He puts maggots in plastic tubes as samples, which he vides to agricultural authorities

But beyond viding the tubes and encouraging ranchers to report cases, he said that the government hasn’t vided much help. “We’ve faced it alone,” he said Wednesday

Had just gradually started to reopen the border to cattle imports this month after an earlier suspension in May, when the Trump administration said that it would close it again after an infected animal was found in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz

Nevertheless, While prevalent in Central America, the concern is that the fly is moving north (an important development)

Officials worry that if the fly reaches Texas, its maggots could cause large economic losses, something that happened decades ago

Ranch caretaker Edi Valencia Santos said that Mexican government officials have come to his community to talk to people with stock, but so far without resources (something worth watching)

He has had five infected animals on the ranch

Despite cattle in this region going to domestic consumption rather than to the U

On the other hand, , the presence of the screwworm in Mexico has frozen cattle exports to the U

Nationwide, in today's financial world

Valencia said that he remembers the small planes distributing sterile flies during those earlier outbreaks, so is optimistic they will eventually help, but for now the costs are piling up on ranchers, in today's market environment. “It’s a big, big blem in Chiapas,” he said

Explore this year's list, in light of current trends.