Particular person in U.S. identified with flesh-eating screwworm after journey to El Salvador

NEW YORK (AP) — An individual who traveled to El Salvador has been identified with New World screwworm — the primary reported U.S. case tied to journey to a rustic with a present outbreak.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the prognosis on Aug. 4. Federal well being officers acknowledged the an infection in an emailed assertion Monday, however didn’t describe the affected person’s situation. They collaborated with Maryland well being officers, the assertion mentioned.

New World screwworm is a fly that lays its eggs in open wounds and physique opening such because the eyes, ears, nostril or mouth. It primarily impacts livestock and is uncommon in people. It doesn’t unfold from individual to individual, and poses a really low threat to the general public, in response to U.S. well being officers.

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The parasite has been a bigger concern to ranchers, as cattle infestations have been shifting northward by Central America and Mexico. The CDC is working with the U.S. Agriculture Department to forestall additional unfold, officers mentioned.

The pest was an issue for the American cattle trade for many years till the U.S. largely eradicated it within the Nineteen Seventies.