American scientific ingenuity in the form of sterile fly releases helped eliminate New World screwworm from the country in the 1960s. Now, U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service researchers are combining that ingenuity with next-generation tools to counter new resurgences of the pest threatening livestock and wildlife in New Mexico and Texas.
Screwworm strain readied for active duty
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Alex Arp, a research geneticist with USDA ARS Knipling-Bushland US Livestock Insects Research Laboratory in Kerrville, Texas, is in a screwworm lab with staff members at a Panama–United States Commission for the Eradication and Prevention of Screwworm Infestation in Livestock screwworm facility in Panama.
Alex Arp examins a specimen under a microscope.
NovoFly larvae has been developed with a genetic “switch” that kills female larvae during early rearing stages but doesn’t function in males.
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