Pearce, Cochise County, Arizona: Sixth New World Screwworm Case Confirmed, Quarantine Zones Expand Across Three Counties
The Arizona Department of Agriculture reported on November 11 the state's sixth confirmed case of New World screwworm: flesh-eating fly larvae were found in a wound on a horse in Pearce, in Cochise County, about five miles from the first case reported roughly two weeks earlier. So far, two horses, two dogs and one sheep have been found with screwworm larvae in wounds. The department has established response quarantine zones in Cochise, Greenlee and Graham counties, and expanded the Cochise County zone after the latest case was confirmed on November 10.
Within a quarantine zone, no animal may be moved beyond a 12.4-mile radius of the reporting point without state veterinarian approval until restrictions are lifted. Arizona's first case was confirmed on October 28; the US Department of Agriculture sent aircraft the next day to release sterile flies over the zones, and more releases are planned this week along the Arizona-Sonora border and near the three counties, along with a new sterile-fly receiving and release site near Douglas.
Nationwide there are 64 active cases, while Mexico has 1,543, including 52 in the border state of Sonora. Agriculture Director Paul Brierley said the state is handling the outbreak under the USDA response plan.
Source: The Arizona Republic
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：新大陆螺旋蝇（显微资料图）。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，Judy Gallagher 摄，CC BY 2.0。 Image: The New World screwworm fly (file photo). Source: Wikimedia Commons, photo by Judy Gallagher, CC BY 2.0.
