Screw Worm Outbreak Hits Playa del Carmen Livestock

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — A screw worm outbreak in the ranch area north of Playa del Carmen is putting more than 1,500 head of cattle at risk and has forced producers to sacrifice the first five animals.

This is occurring in the ranch zone, located opposite Punta Maroma, north of this city, where at least five producers are seeking to cure the first 20 animals that have been attacked by the screw worm to avoid their sacrifice.

“The worm infestation,” as ranchers call it, not only attacks cattle but also other domestic animals like dogs. Most seriously, humans are also prone to suffering from it in case of open wounds, said Eusebio Miranda Sánchez, president of the Playa del Carmen Cattle Association.

“We currently have five ranches with cases of the screw worm and it is hitting us from all sides. It is hitting us in sheep, pigs, goats, horses, and in cattle, the cows,” he lamented.

In images provided to this media outlet, the open wounds of animals, such as pigs, that do not heal can be observed. Producers use veterinary medicine products and carry out fumigations, not to eliminate the worm, but to repel it.

The medications cost around two thousand pesos. In case the animal can no longer be saved, they have instructions to incinerate the bodies to prevent the worm from turning into a fly and attacking other individuals by laying its eggs in open wounds, thus beginning its reproductive cycle again.

“With the fly here in Playa del Carmen, it can travel several hundred kilometers to reach another place. Therefore, there is no place exempt from the worm infestation within all of Playa,” he warned.

During the first part of the year, when the alert was issued in Mexico, the ranch area of this city remained free of the plague, so this outbreak took them by surprise.

Alejandro López Acuña, director of Agricultural Development of Playa del Carmen, reported that they have already deployed an operation to address the problem with a veterinarian and healing materials.

“We have a veterinarian who is attending directly, going to the ranch, and preventive talks are being held about what should be done,” the official informed.

According to information from the Federal Government, the screw worm is an infestation caused by the larvae of the Cochliomyia hominivorax fly, which feed on the living tissue of mammals.