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US plans to fight flesh-eating screwworm outbreak with flies and dogs
Key takeaways
- Max Matza Reuters US agriculture and health officials have outlined a plan to combat a flesh-eating parasite that has been detected in the US for the first time since 1966.
- The plan to prevent a US outbreak of the New World Screwworm focuses on deploying hundreds of millions of genetically-altered sterile flies.
- Other measures include establishing a containment zone around the site of the first US infection along the southern US border, and using sniffer dogs to detect the insects.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
Max Matza Reuters US agriculture and health officials have outlined a plan to combat a flesh-eating parasite that has been detected in the US for the first time since 1966.
The plan to prevent a US outbreak of the New World Screwworm focuses on deploying hundreds of millions of genetically-altered sterile flies. Experts, though, say the supply of sterile flies is too low to immediately impact and halt the growing screwworm population.
Other measures include establishing a containment zone around the site of the first US infection along the southern US border, and using sniffer dogs to detect the insects.
Article preview — originally published by BBC World. Full story at the source.
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