Could A Flesh-Eating Parasite Bring Down Trump’s Midterm Hopes?

A parasite eradicated in 1966 is back in Texas.

Cattle are herded in a stable on June 05, 2026 in Hamilton, Texas. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins has confirmed the detection of the New World screwworm—a parasitic fly whose larvae feed on the living tissue of warm-blooded animals—in a cow in Zavala County, Texas. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

The GOP’s success in the midterms may be most imperiled not by scandal or intra-party squabbling, but by a flesh-eating screwworm parasite.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed four cases of New World screwworm in Texas, according to Reuters. At least two calves have been infected. The government is reportedly taking aggressive action to curtail the spread, but a screwworm outbreak could send beef prices skyrocketing — obstructing Republicans’ efforts to bring grocery bills down. (RELATED: Flesh-Eating New World Screwworm Found 25 Miles From U.S. Border, USDA Says)

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What is Screwworm?

New World screwworm is a fly that lays its eggs in open wounds and bodily cavities. When those eggs hatch, flesh-eating maggots emerge, “screwing” further into the wound to feed on living tissue.

Thankfully, screwworm infections in human beings are rare. Unfortunately, screwworms are fond of burrowing into livestock. Cattle and bison accounted for about 86% of screwworm cases between January 2024 and May 16, according to the Panama-United States Commission for the Eradication and Prevention of Screwworm (COPEG).

AUSTIN, TEXAS – JUNE 5: Michael Schmoyer, director of the New World Screwworm Directorate for the United States Department of Agriculture, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott attend a meeting with government officials discussing the New World Screwworm threat at the Texas Division of Emergency Management State Operations Center on June 5, 2026 in Austin, Texas. The first case of New World Screwworm infection, since its eradication from the country in 1966, was reported in Texas Wednesday by the United States Department of Agriculture. (Photo by Joel Angel Juarez/Getty Images)

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Eradication and Resurgence

The tale of screwworm eradication is one of the great 20th century scientific endeavors. USDA researchers began studying screwworms as early as the 1920s. Scientists engineered the sterile insect technique, in which large numbers of lab-reared sterile male flies are released into the natural screwworm population to mate with females. Female screwworms mate only once, and their offspring with sterile males are not viable.

The U.S. was declared free of screwworms in 1966, according to the USDA.

The United States and Mexico collaborated to establish a barrier zone between the nations, releasing sterilized male flies in border areas. And there was a natural barrier preventing screwworm migration north: The Daríen Gap. The Daríen Gap is a 60-or-so-mile stretch of rainforest between Colombia and Panama. There is no official road spanning the gap. It was once relatively untrafficked.

This is no longer the case.