A horse in Grant County, New Mexico, has become the latest animal in the US to be infested with New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite.
The case was confirmed on the 17th of September. It was New Mexico’s second confirmed case since screwworm entered the US from Mexico in June.
Just a week earlier, the first US horse known to be infested during the current outbreak was detected in southern Texas. A dog in Texas is also infected.
That leaves three active cases involving two horses and one dog.
This is not the first time the US has faced screwworm. A previous outbreak killed thousands of animals before the parasite was declared eradicated in the 1960s. And yet, while animals are being eaten alive by a parasite, much of the surrounding discussion is about trade.
The US halted imports of farmed animals from Mexico last year in an attempt to keep screwworm out. Trade resumed through an Arizona port last month, and officials were preparing to reopen the Santa Teresa port in New Mexico on 24 September.
The latest horse case had not been confirmed when Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins held a news conference about reopening the port. It was not immediately clear whether the infection would change those plans.
Why the urgency?
The import halt tightened cattle supplies and helped push beef prices to record highs. And this is where the story becomes bigger than screwworm.
We immediately understand why a horse being eaten alive by parasites is horrifying. We understand that the horse is an individual who can suffer.
The dog too.
So what happens when the animals being discussed are cows?
Suddenly they become “supplies”.
Their movement becomes “trade”.
Their bodies become “beef prices”.
But the cow being transported across that border is no less an individual than the horse whose suffering makes headlines. Screwworm is a horrific threat to animals. But it also exposes something we have been taught not to notice. A parasite eating into an animal is horror. An industry eating into an animal’s life is commerce.
And apparently the real emergency begins when one starts eating into the profits of the other.
It's only going to get worse. How much attention do the general population give to critical issues like this? Here in Florida, we've had flesh-eating bacteria in Gulf waters that was covered in news reports yet when I've been to the beaches (I haven't gone in the water for years knowing full well the contamination) I see the water filled with people of all ages. It reminds me of when there was a surge of red tide and a women I encountered said she had a red itchy and painful rash on her legs but couldn't understand why after she had been in the water. They walk amongst us!