You must have heard of the meat -eating screws. Here’s why you should not do out

Warning: This story has an open wound images that may bother some people.

Just when you felt that there is enough in the world to eliminate your nerves, a meat -eating parasite comes in the middle America and has now recently become a passenger from the United States and another from Canada.

It is called New World Screwrome, and it sets its way to a living animal host’s skin – such as a screw – and feeds on the tissue.

But we said that you don’t have to take out.

Human cases of infections are incredibly rare, when it comes to passengers in affected areas, and it does not pass from person to another. But Bugs are a threat to cattle fieldsAnd a wrath in Central America and Mexico is growing at a speed in which farmers are in the entire region and in the US.

Here we know what we know about parasites, two human affairs and what can be done to control it.

What is the new world screwmith?

US Center for Disease Control and Prevention Confirmed on 4 August A man from Maryland had the country’s first human case of a new world screw infection associated with recent outbreaks.

He recently visited Al Salvador, one of the affected countries, and has been recovered since.

The parasite is the larvae of the new world screw fly.

The female fly lays her eggs on warm blood animals-often in an open wound or scratch in the skin but sometimes in the mucous membrane of the nose, eyes or mouth.

Larva – or we usually refer to as magots – hatch and then eat our way into the host’s flesh.

Dr., an infectious pathologist at McGill University Health Center, Montreal. Michael Libeman said that this type of parasitic infection is known as Myiasis, which is common and not generally dangerous.

CBC News said, “There is a complete bunch of flies that are capable of doing so, and most of them are benign.”

Libeman said that myiasis is usually seen in pets, as well as in those who have open wounds and are living in unnatural conditions, but are easily treated and some implications.

He said that makes the new world different, he said, it is “very aggressive,” and they “really feed on the living skin.”

(Its scientific name, by the way, Cocilyomyia homeinivorax, Hominivorax Literally means “Man-Eater.”)

Screworm infestations can cause ulcerated lesions that do not heal and dishonestly leave the smells, infections and possibly death (mostly in animals).

Although it is already extremely rare in small number of human affairs, but a fatal document was written In Costa Rica in 2024 – The first in the country since the 1990s – the first in a person who was living with disability.

Six other people of the country who were infected that year were all cured.

How is it treated?

A infectiologist at Toronto General Hospital, Dr. Isaac Bogoch said that it is a “straight” treatment to get rid of an infection: you have to get the larvae out of the tissue.

But because they can buried deeply in the meat, and “tens or hundreds of larvae can also be under,” he said, sometimes surgery is required.

The same happened to a Canadian person in the 80s earlier this year. He fell down from a steep hill during his visit to Costa Rica and had friction on his knees and shin. But about a week later, an ulcer remained on his right calf.

According to a study on his case, Bogoch was published by co-writer and recent issue. Traveling medicine and infectious diseasesDoctors in Costa Rica removed 30 to 40 larvae from ulcers before advising medical attention to a large medical facility.

He flew to Toronto, where doctors had to expand an incision to remove even more larvae, which was later confirmed to have a new world screw. A scan showed that there was no more damage in his tissue. They were given a tetanus shot and left with a wound dressed.

Can you prevent this from happening?

Bogoch told the CBC News Network that while there is a very low risk for passengers, it is “zero percent.”

He said that if you are going on one of the outbreak countries – which extends from Panama to Mexico – and return with symptoms, you should inform your doctor.

Bogocha said, “This also means that health care providers should be aware of diseases related to (IT and) other travel.”

But this is not something that you should reconsider to travel to popular holiday sites in Central America, Libman said.

He said that basic precautions, as you will try to protect yourself from other insects in mosquitoes and tropical climate, should help keep the new world away, if you have anywhere with them.

Human matters are unusual. Why do we care?

The Libeman stressed that great concern is for livestock, especially cattle. He said that infections can be “very harmful” for animals and could cause significant damage to farmers, he said, as some countries restrict imports from affected areas to limit the spread of screws.

The new world’s screw was eliminated to a large extent Southern US In the 1960s, Mexico in the 1970s and Central America in the early 2000s.

Libman reported that male flies were sterilized through radiation, issued by millions of people, so that women did not produce children when they produced children.

He said that it is “really remarkable” that this method managed to control the problem for decades without using pesticides.

Libeman said it is not clear what happened due to the recent revival in Central America, where it was first found in 2023 and an increase in a regional outbreak in the following years.

But he said that he believes that if flies continue to move in large areas, it may be difficult to manage spread, where it would be difficult to mount such a comprehensive effort to control them.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says it is monitoring outbreaks in Mexico and Central America and notes that the new world does not exist in Canada and cannot avoid the winter temperature of the country.