• Active cases dropped to 492 as of January 7, from 1,145 registered on December 10, the ministry said, overwhelmingly concentrated in a handful of states.
• Construction for a factory to breed sterile flies in Chiapas state is 48 per cent complete and is on track to start operating in the first half of this year, the ministry said, when it will produce some 200 million flies per week.
• The flies will be released into the wild, so when sterile males mate with wild females, no offspring are produced and the population collapses over time.
• The screwworm outbreak, which has moved northward through Central America and deep into Mexico, has strained relations with the United States, Mexico’s biggest trading partner.
• The U.S. has kept its border mostly closed to Mexican cattle imports since May.

— Reporting by Raul Cortes

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Rollins, in Mexico City for meetings with officials including President Claudia Sheinbaum, told Reuters in an exclusive interview on Monday that President Donald Trump was “very focused” on reopening the border, which has been largely closed to Mexican livestock since May.

“We’re still not at the point where I am comfortable opening the ports, but I think every day that goes by we get a little bit closer,” Rollins said.

“I want to have every confidence that we have overturned every stone, that we understand every nuance, that we are deploying every tool in the toolkit,” she added.

Rollins, who declined to give a time frame for reopening the border, said she would speak to top U.S. officials about the issue on Wednesday and would have more conversations about screwworm with Trump.

Mexico’s agriculture ministry did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

Mexico taking it ‘very seriously’

Mexico has been working to contain the outbreak, which has spread northward from Central America, rattling the livestock and beef industries of both the U.S. and Mexico. Although U.S. officials say the pest has not yet breached the U.S. border, it threatens $1.8 billion in damage to Texas’ economy alone, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture estimate.

In September, Rollins criticized Mexico for failing to sufficiently implement measures to stop the screwworm’s spread, highlighting growing tensions between the two nations as the pest continues its advance north.

On Monday, though, after her meetings with Mexican officials, she said the efforts of both countries were “a completely different, more sophisticated, impressive operation,” than where they were in the spring.

Mexican officials “have taken it very seriously,” Rollins said, adding that she was “very impressed” with Sheinbaum.

“I believe sincerely, it is the most collaborative effort, perhaps in our lifetime, between the two different departments of agriculture.”

Parasitic flies

Rollins said there had been 11 cases of screwworm in Mexican states that border the U.S. in recent months, though they were all contained and treated.

Screwworms are parasitic flies whose females lay eggs in wounds. Their larvae burrow through living flesh, eventually killing their host if left untreated.

“The key is keeping the screwworm away from the southern border of America, and it’s gotten really close – too close – so now we just have to make sure we can push it back,” she added.

In Mexico’s southern state of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala, some ranchers have blamed the spread of the outbreak on the federal government’s failure to crack down on organized crime groups that traffic in stolen livestock, which enables them to tap a lucrative market and extort money along the way.

Illegal movement a “big issue”

Animals may be smuggled in from Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, or other Central American nations, often bearing counterfeit ear tags and forged documents.

Rollins said the illegal movement of cattle was a “big issue” that she wanted to dig into more, while noting that Mexico had put in new protections and checkpoints in place to better control for illicit livestock trade.

The border closure has added to the already tight cattle supply situation in the U.S., where beef prices have risen to records as herd sizes have declined to their lowest in decades at the same time consumer demand remains strong. About 250,000 head of cattle are waiting south of the U.S. border to enter, Rollins said.

The secretary said that rising beef prices, however, are a “non-factor” in considering whether to reopen the border.

“I think that we can never compromise the safety of the herd for the cost,” Rollins said, adding that doing so prematurely could lead to higher costs later on if the screwworm enters the U.S. and devastates the cattle industry.

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Berdegue said he spoke to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in a video conference and that they had made advances but still did not have a date for reopening the U.S. border to Mexican cattle.

Why it matters: The U.S. ban on Mexican cattle imports has contricted an already tight cattle supply, contributing to record high prices.

“We have made considerable progress, and I am very optimistic,” he said in President Claudia Sheinbaum’s dailymorning press conference.

They agreed to test modular mobile plants in Mexico that could increase sterile fly production by up to 20 million additional flies each week if successful, Berdegue said, adding that this was the first case of the plants being used.

The U.S. government has kept its border mostly closed to Mexican cattle imports since May as the screwworm, which infests and can kill livestock if untreated, has moved from Central American into Mexico, rattling the livestock sectors of both countries.

Mexico is also working to open a sterile fly plant in southern Chiapas state in 2026, with the help of a $21 million investment by the U.S. It is expected to eventually produce 100 million flies weekly.

The technique involves breeding millions of flies, sterilizing them with radiation, and releasing them into the wild. When sterile males mate with wild females, no offspring are produced, and the population collapses over time.

“We will only be able to get it out of the country once we have the additional 100 million flies,” Berdegue said.

Sheinbaum had said last week that Berdegue would travel to the U.S. to meet with his counterparts in person with the aim of reaching an agreement on the reopening of the border.

The Mexican president announced on Monday that she and President Donald Trump agreed to extend a looming trade deadline for “a few more weeks” to discuss pending issues with Washington.

— Reporting by Cassandra Garrison and Natalia Siniawski

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Mexico recorded 6,703 cases of animals infested with New World screwworm as of September 13 since the start of the outbreak in November of last year. That was compared to 5,086 confirmed cases during the previous period, which ended August 17.

The latest report by sanitation agency Senasica, which was published on September 26 and seen by Reuters on Wednesday, shows the outbreak is becoming more concentrated as it moves northward through Mexico.

Of the total cases, 5,258 were confirmed in cattle.

The spread of screwworm as it moves closer to the U.S. border has sparked a diplomatic spat between the two trading partners as the U.S. casts blame on Mexico for not doing enough to contain the parasite, which infests and can kill livestock if untreated. The U.S. government has kept its border mostly closed to Mexican cattle imports since May.

There were five confirmed cases in Puebla state for the first time, which is about 80 miles (129 km) from capital Mexico City. There were also 744 cases in Oaxaca state, compared to 453 in the August report.

Veracruz state saw cases nearly double to 476 from 252 a month earlier. Chiapas state, which borders Guatemala, remains the area most affected by the outbreak, with 3,474 confirmed cases, up from 2,875 in August.

Mexico confirmed a case of screwworm in an animal in Nuevo Leon state on September 21, which borders the U.S., and said it was immediately treated to prevent a further outbreak.

In August, the U.S. confirmed its first human case in the United States of travel-associated screwworm from an outbreak-affected country, after Reuters exclusively reported on the case. The last major outbreak of screwworm in the U.S. was from 1972 to 1976 across six states.

The U.S. government shut down much of its operations on Wednesday after Congress and the White House were unable to reach a funding deal, leading to the furlough of about 42,000 USDA staff, roughly half the agriculture agency’s employees.

The agency is expected to use emergency funds to continue animal health programs related to diseases like bird flu and screwworm, according to the agency’s 2025 shutdown contingency plan.

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Rollins blamed a recent screwworm detection less than 70 miles (113 km) from the U.S. border on Mexico’s failure to curb cattle movements and inadequate monitoring of fly traps meant to reduce the wild population of screwworm flies, which infest and can kill livestock if untreated.

Why it matters: The U.S. has closed its border to Mexican cattle, further constricting an already tight market.

Screwworm has not yet crossed the U.S. border, according to officials, but poses a multibillion-dollar risk to the U.S. beef industry. The U.S. has kept its border mostly closed to Mexican cattle imports since May.

The outbreak has heightened tensions between the countries ahead of a planned review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement (CUSMA) and rattled their livestock and beef sectors.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on September 21 said it had learned of the case in Nuevo Leon, which borders Texas.

Within hours, USDA had sent staff to the region, Rollins said on Thursday at the Ag Outlook Forum in Kansas City, Missouri.

“Unfortunately, what we found is Mexico has failed to enforce proper cattle movement controls in infected regions and is not tending to fly traps daily as promised, which hinder our real-time detection capabilities. This is unacceptable,” Rollins said.

She said that reopening the border to livestock trade is contingent on total compliance with agreed-upon surveillance protocols.

Mexico’s sanitation agency Senasica said its fly trap system is checked every three or four days, a frequency that was jointly determined with APHIS, the animal health arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“Regarding the detection of a case of New World screwworm in northern Mexico, it should be noted that this finding was possible thanks to the application of a protocol established in the bilateral action plan,” Senasica told Reuters, adding that it has implemented a double inspection system at the livestock’s point of origin.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday said that Mexico had not been notified by the USDA of any change to the expectation that the U.S. will reopen its border before November and that controlling the movement of livestock within Mexico is complicated.

The U.S. has invested $21 million (C$29.3 million) in a facility in southern Mexico to produce sterile flies that are released to reduce the mating population of wild flies.

— Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington and Cassandra Garrison in Mexico City

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Why it matters: The closure of the U.S. border to Mexican cattle due to screwworm fears has constricted already tight cattle supplies, pushing Chicago cattle futures to record highs.

“USDA is analyzing all new information related to the recent case in Nuevo Leon and will pursue all options to release sterile flies in this region as necessary,” USDA said.

A spokesperson for Mexico’s agriculture ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The flesh-eating screwworm parasite has moved northward through Central America and southern Mexico, putting the U.S. cattle industry on high alert.

The outbreak has prompted the U.S. government to keep its border mostly closed to Mexican cattle imports since May.

A human case of screwworm in the U.S. reported in August posed no risk to the farm sector, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official said at the time.

—Reporting by Anmol Choubey; additional reporting by Cassandra Garrison in Mexico City.

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The updated numbers, which have not been previously reported to the public, showed 649 currently active cases.

“That’s absolutely concerning,” said Neal Wilkins, CEO of conservation and cattle group East Foundation. “Having a 50 per cent increase in month-over-month numbers, particularly in the extreme heat, means they haven’t gotten it under control.”

The U.S. border has been closed to Mexican cattle since July due to screwworm concerns.

Screwworm moves north from Central America

The vast majority of cases were identified in cattle, though Mexican government data also showed infestations in dogs, horses and sheep.

Screwworms are parasites that eat warm-blooded animals alive and can devastate cattle herds and local wildlife.

Since an outbreak began in 2023, screwworms have advanced northward from Central America into Mexico and inched closer to the U.S. American ranchers and livestock industry players have closely monitored the fly’s progress northward, fearing an infestation that would cost Texas, the biggest U.S. cattle-producing state, about $1.8 billion, according to U.S. estimates.

Female screwworm flies lay hundreds of eggs in wounds on any warm-blooded animal. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae use their sharp, hooked mouths to burrow through living flesh — feeding, enlarging the wound and eventually killing their host if left untreated.

U.S. human case

On Sunday, Reuters reported the first human case in the United States of travel-associated New World screwworm from an outbreak-affected country. The case, investigated by the Maryland Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was confirmed by the CDC as New World screwworm on August 4, and involved a patient who returned from travel to El Salvador, HHS spokesman Andrew G. Nixon said in an email to Reuters.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is sending a team to Mexico in two weeks to verify that Mexico is following protocol to prevent screwworm’s northern spread, Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden said on Tuesday.

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U.S. cattle futures tumbled on concerns the pest will also strike livestock as ranchers criticized a lack of transparency about the case, following exclusive reporting by Reuters.

Screwworms are parasitic flies whose females lay eggs in wounds on any warm-blooded animal. An outbreak could cost the economy in Texas, the biggest U.S. cattle-producing state, about $1.8 billion (C$2.49 billion), according to U.S. estimates.

Three-week delay of disclosure erodes trust: cattle group

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the human case as screwworm on August 4 in a person who returned from travel to El Salvador, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The agency announced the case on Sunday after Reuters reported earlier in the day on emails from beef industry officials on a CDC-confirmed case in a person in Maryland who had traveled to the United States from Guatemala.

The nearly three-week delay between the confirmation of the case on August 4 and the U.S. government’s disclosure erodes trust that public agencies need to identify and fight potential screwworm outbreaks, said Neal Wilkins, CEO of conservation and cattle group East Foundation.

“It will cause many producers and land owners, wildlife managers, to simply begin to believe that they’re not being fed the whole story,” he said. “It’s irresponsible and tone deaf for them to have done this.”

Maryland’s health department said the patient was a resident of the state but did not respond to questions about the country to which the person traveled or the timing of the case. An HHS spokesperson did not address the discrepancy on the source of the human case on Sunday.

Feeder cattle futures FCU25 fell at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange after cattle and beef prices set records this year because the nation’s herd shrank to its smallest size in 70 years.

Screwworm has spread north in Mexico from Central America, prompting the U.S. Department of Agriculture to halt imports of Mexican cattle in July.

Producer group calls for transparency

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins did not mention the human case when she traveled to Texas on August 15 to announce that the agency would spend up to $750 million to build a Texas facility to produce sterile flies to combat screwworm. The agency has not confirmed cases in animals this year. The USDA has not responded to questions about the human case and what communications the agency had with the CDC.

Last week, an executive of industry group Beef Alliance sent emails to about two dozen people, informing them the CDC had confirmed a case in Maryland in a person who had traveled to the U.S. from Guatemala, according to a source. Beef Alliance has not responded to requests for comment.

U.S. cattle producers’ association R-CALF USA said on Monday there should be an investigation if government officials shared information about the case with select industry members.

“Without transparency and symmetrical information dissemination to all industry participants there can be no trust between industry participants and the government,” the association’s CEO, Bill Bullard, said.

— Additional reporting by Heather Schlitz in Chicago and Cassandra Garrison in Buenos Aires.

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The case, investigated by the Maryland Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was confirmed by the CDC as New World screwworm on August 4, and involved a patient who returned from travel to El Salvador, HHS spokesman Andrew G. Nixon said in an email to Reuters.

Earlier, Reuters reported that beef industry sources said last week that the CDC had confirmed a case of New World screwworm in a person in Maryland who had traveled to the United States from Guatemala.

Nixon did not address the discrepancy on the source of the human case.

“The risk to public health in the United States from this introduction is very low,” he said.

The U.S. government has not confirmed any cases in animals this year.

Threat to beef industry

The differing accounts from the U.S. government and industry sources on the human case are likely to further rattle an industry of cattle ranchers, beef producers and livestock traders already on high alert for potential U.S. infestations as screwworm has moved northward from Central America and southern Mexico.

The government’s confirmation of a screwworm case comes just over a week after U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins traveled to Texas to announce plans to build a sterile fly facility there as part of efforts to combat the pest.

The USDA has estimated a screwworm outbreak could cost the economy in Texas, the biggest U.S. cattle-producing state, about $1.8 billion in livestock deaths, labor costs and medication expenses.

An executive of the industry group Beef Alliance sent emails last week to about two dozen people in the livestock and beef sectors, informing them that the CDC had confirmed a human case of screwworm in Maryland in a person who had traveled to the U.S. from Guatemala, according to a source, who asked not to be identified, and who shared the contents of the emails with Reuters.

Beth Thompson, South Dakota’s state veterinarian, told Reuters on Sunday that she was notified of a human case in Maryland within the last week by a person with direct knowledge of it. CDC deferred questions to Maryland on a call with state animal health officials, Thompson said. “We found out via other routes and then had to go to CDC to tell us what was going on,” she said. “They weren’t forthcoming at all. They turned it back over to the state to confirm anything that had happened or what had been found in this traveler.”

Another source said that state veterinarians had learned about a human case in Maryland during a call last week with the CDC. A Maryland state government official also confirmed a case.

A spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Health did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

What are screwworms?

Screwworms are parasitic flies whose females lay eggs in wounds on any warm-blooded animal. Once the eggs hatch, hundreds of screwworm larvae use their sharp mouths to burrow through living flesh, eventually killing their host if left untreated.

The maggots’ feeding is similar to a screw being driven into wood, giving the pests their name.

Screwworms can be devastating in cattle and wildlife, and rarely infest humans, though an infestation in either an animal or a person can be fatal.

Treatment is onerous, and involves removing hundreds of larvae and thoroughly disinfecting wounds. But infestations are typically survivable if treated early enough.

The emails from the Beef Alliance executive said that due to patient privacy laws, there were no other details available about the positive human case of screwworm. The person was treated and prevention measures were implemented in the state, the email said.

A livestock economist at Texas A&M University was asked to prepare a report for Rollins on the impacts to industry of the border closure to Mexican cattle, according to the emails, a measure that has largely been in effect since November to prevent the arrival of screwworm to the United States.

The CDC was required to report the positive New World screwworm case to both Maryland health officials and the Maryland state veterinarian, one of the emails said, adding that the CDC also notified other agriculture stakeholders.

“We remain hopeful that, since awareness is currently limited to industry representatives and state veterinarians, the likelihood of a positive case being leaked is low, minimizing market impact,” the beef industry executive wrote.

A representative for the Beef Alliance did not respond to requests for comment.

Impact on beef and cattle futures

Chicage Mercantile Exchange feeder cattle futures fell sharply on Monday after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed the human screwworm case.

CME September feeder cattle contracts were down 2.75 cents at 359.925 cents per pound by 8:40 a.m. CDT after earlier falling as low as 354.525 cents per pound.

Livestock traders and beef producers have been on edge about the potential for cases in cattle as prices have already hit record highs because the U.S. cattle herd is at its smallest size in seven decades.

A human case and the lack of transparency around it could present a political challenge for Rollins. The USDA has set traps and sent mounted officers along the border, but it has faced criticism from some cattle producers and market analysts for not acting faster to pursue increased fly production.

Rollins first announced plans for a sterile fly facility at Moore Air Force Base in Edinburg, Texas – near where a production facility to combat screwworm operated during the last major outbreak 50 years ago – in June, saying that the facility would take two to three years to come online.A spokesperson for the USDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Mexico has also taken efforts to limit the spread of the pest, which can kill livestock within weeks if not treated. The Mexican government said in July that it started to build a $51 million sterile fly production facility in the country’s south.

The sole operating plant is in Panama City and can produce a maximum of 100 million sterile screwworm flies each week. The USDA has estimated that 500 million flies would need to be released weekly to push the fly back to the Darien Gap, the stretch of rainforest between Panama and Colombia.

Screwworms traveling north

Screwworms have been traveling north through Mexico from Central America since 2023. They are endemic in Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and countries in South America, according to the USDA.

Mexico reported a new case about 370 miles (595 km) south of the U.S. border in Ixhuatlan de Madero, Veracruz, in July. The USDA immediately ordered the closure of livestock trade through southern ports of entry, after previously halting imports in November and May.

The U.S. typically imports over a million cattle from Mexico a year to fatten in feedlots and process into beef.

Screwworms were eradicated from the United States in the 1960s when researchers began releasing massive numbers of sterilized male screwworm flies that mate with wild female screwworms to produce infertile eggs.

— Additional reporting by Heather Schlitz in Chicago and Jarrett Renshaw in Washington.

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Most-active October live cattle contracts hovered just below highs at 231.350 cents a pound, up 0.175 cents. December live cattle lost 0.025 cents per pound to settle at 233.250 cents.

Most-traded September feeder contracts closed at 352.425 cents a pound, up 1.500 cents. October feeders settled at 352.300 cents per pound, up 2.050 cents. Both were contract highs.

Choice boxed beef was valued at $407.20 per cwt in the USDA’s afternoon report—up $2.96 from Monday. Select boxed beef closed at $379.76 per cwt, up $2.62.

Most-active October lean hog futures closed at 90.150 cents a pound, up 0.025 cents. December lean hogs settled at 82.975 cents, down 0.475 cents per pound.

The USDA reported pork carcass cutout value at $112.41 per cwt on Tuesday afternoon, down $3.95 from Monday.

On Tuesday, USDA officials announced they’d given the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) power to quickly authorize veterinarians and farmers to treat or prevent infestations of New World screwworm with animal drugs approved for other purposes or available in other countries.

No cases of the flesh-eating parasite have been confirmed in the U.S., however a case in Mexico about 370 miles from the border prompted the USDA to close the border to Mexican cattle.

The USDA said on Friday it would spend up to $750 million to build a facility in Texas that produces sterile flies. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins did not say when the plant would open but previously said such a facility would take two to three years to build.

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