Check updates, the Texas map, reporting links, and who to call.
TAHC's live web map is the fast geography check for Texas users. Use it to review current zone context, then confirm movement, reporting, and animal-health decisions with official guidance.
GPS can fill your home county.
A launch feed of cited updates. The awareness desk is designed to bring together government alerts, extension guidance, farm press, local news, broadcast clips, and field reports in one readable place.
TopHand's public news scan found strong attention around U.S. case-count updates, local coverage of additional Texas cases, and FDA's emergency authorization for a pet treatment option.
Source: TopHand news scanFDA issued an EUA for generic nitenpyram tablets to treat New World screwworm myiasis in dogs, puppies, cats, and kittens meeting age and weight criteria. USDA framed most U.S. pets as low risk unless they were recently in confirmed-case areas.
Read sourceUSDA's current-status hub points the public to confirmed detection dashboards, reporting resources, trade restrictions, and sterile-insect response updates. It says suspicious wounds, maggots, or infestations should be reported immediately.
Read sourceAPHIS confirmed a La Salle County calf case and described joint state-federal response work: case tracing, surveillance, testing, trapping, sterile insect release adjustments, and outreach. USDA also stated that the U.S. food supply remains safe.
Read sourceCommissioner Sid Miller argued that sterile flies should be paired with the Screwworm Adult Suppression System. His warning line for producers was blunt: "Every day we delay" gives the pest room to spread.
Read sourceCDC reported no locally acquired human infestations in the United States, while noting the outbreak has moved north through Central America and Mexico since 2023 and can affect animals and people.
Read sourceAPHIS confirmed the first animal case of the current U.S. outbreak in Zavala County, Texas and described immediate containment steps including a 20 km infested zone, movement controls, surveillance, and sterile-fly release.
Read sourceThe proven backbone: release sterile males so females lay nonviable eggs. USDA says current investments aim to approach historical production levels used during eradication.
Cited detailMiller is pressing for SWASS as a bridge tool to kill fertile adult flies while sterile-fly capacity ramps. USDA and other experts continue weighing modern bait, lure, and environmental constraints.
Cited detailAPHIS lists Pacora, Metapa, and Moore Air Base as production or dispersal nodes. Moore Air Base is listed as an operational dispersal facility and a future domestic production site.
Cited detailScrewworm awareness should not only be a reporting page. The practical ranch response is a daily loop: inspect animals, reduce fly pressure, prevent wounds, document concerns, and know exactly who to call before a suspicious case appears.
Inspect wounds, navels, ears, nose, genital area, and other openings. Watch for irritated behavior, drainage, foul odor, or visible larvae.
APHIS signs and reportingTreat fly and tick pressure as a wound-prevention issue. Texas A&M AgriLife recommends discussing sprays, pour-ons, dips, ear tags, and pasture monitoring with your veterinarian.
Texas A&M AgriLife preparednessPlan extra observation around calving, shearing, branding, castration, dehorning, tagging, transport, predator injuries, and any procedure that leaves an open wound.
CDC exposure basicsIf a case is suspected, separate affected animals when practical, call a veterinarian, notify animal-health officials, and avoid moving animals until directed.
AgriLife legal updateWalk chutes, alleys, pens, trailers, gates, latches, mineral feeders, and water points. Mark anything that could puncture, scrape, pinch, or tear skin.
TopHand prevention workflowKeep dated photos of wounds, facilities, and repairs. Clear records speed up veterinary conversations, official reporting, and follow-up checks.
USDA report suspected casesLook for rough welds, pressure points, broken rubber, head-catch rub spots, protruding pins, and places animals hit when backing or lunging.
Inspect tight turns, splintered boards, pipe ends, manure slicks, exposed wire, and corners where animals pile up or scrape shoulders and hips.
Check ramp cleats, floor rot, gate gaps, sharp thresholds, divider hardware, and places animals can catch legs or tear hide during loading.
Find loose panels, wire tails, bent T-post clips, old barbed wire, hinge pinch points, nail heads, and latch hardware at animal height.
Look at rub edges, loose tin, broken troughs, hay-ring burrs, feeder bolts, and muddy footing where cattle crowd daily.
Remove junk iron, low limbs, broken equipment, scrap wire, old panels, and storm debris before they become wound sources.
USDA says the most important thing animal owners can do is know what to look for and how to report suspected cases. Use these cards as a quick second-look guide, then contact a veterinarian, state animal health official, or USDA if a case is suspicious.
Actual reference photoTreat a wound that is getting wider, deeper, wetter, swollen, bloody, painful, or foul-smelling as an urgent second-look case.
Smell alone does not diagnose screwworm, but a putrid odor with drainage, swelling, pain, or visible larvae should raise urgency.
Actual reference photoLook for eggs or larvae in wounds and around moist tissue. Maggots feeding in living tissue are the concern that needs immediate reporting.
Check nose, ears, genital areas, the umbilical area of newborn animals, and other moist openings where lesions can be easy to miss.
Behavior does not diagnose screwworm, but discomfort plus a suspicious wound should trigger a closer inspection and a call for help.
The sterile insect technique worked because female New World screwworm flies mate once. If enough sterile males mate with wild females, eggs fail to hatch and the population collapses generation by generation.
USDA researchers established the New World screwworm as distinct from blowflies that feed on dead matter, then developed ways to rear large numbers for research.
VerifyEdward Knipling's idea was simple and powerful: overwhelm wild populations with sterile males so reproduction fails over successive generations.
VerifyAPHIS states that sterile insect technique eradicated New World screwworm from the United States in 1966.
VerifyAPHIS cites sterile insect technique as the method that also helped eliminate the small Florida Keys outbreak in 2017.
VerifyCurrent response combines detection, reporting, quarantines or movement controls, sterile insects, facility expansion, and public awareness.
VerifyThe public launch focuses on awareness, official reporting pathways, zone-map access, and readiness guidance. Uploads will open after provider routing, safety language, storage, and review prompts are ready.
We are preparing the computer-vision wound review before public intake. For now, use the visual guidance on this page and report suspected cases through official channels immediately.
The checklist and wound-prevention map are live now. Photo-based facility risk review will stay hidden until the model workflow is ready for public use.
We are preparing the computer-vision facility review before public intake. For now, use the readiness checklist and inspect handling areas directly before high-risk work.
Publish plain-language checklists for wound photos, larvae signs, body-site context, and facility hazards so users know what the review is looking for.
Help users keep dated wound, animal, and repair photos organized without exposing producer identity or turning private reports into public posts.
Prepare future photo review with more known examples, more negative examples, and clearer confidence ranges as the reference library grows.
Bring official updates, local news, agriculture blogs, broadcasts, and field reports into one readable awareness feed.
USDA APHIS, CDC, FDA, TDA, TAHC, state animal-health offices, COPEG, SENASICA, and disaster declarations.
Texas A&M AgriLife, National Agricultural Library, veterinary manuals, entomology papers, and sterile-insect history.
Farm press, local Texas outlets, national coverage, agriculture blogs, newsletters, and producer association updates.
YouTube, TV clips, radio interviews, podcasts, and transcripts reviewed for useful updates and quotes.
Producer reports, submitted photos, county-level concern clusters, travel history, and official reporting redirects.
Every item needs a source URL, publish date, named people and places, confidence rating, quote handling, and a readable summary.
These source-backed images help users learn visual cues while the computer-vision review workflow remains in preparation. They are educational references, not a diagnosis.
The first public version keeps the upload workflow closed while the VLM review, storage, and safety language are finished.
Add recurring ingestion for APHIS, CDC, TDA, academic alerts, RSS, YouTube transcripts, radio transcripts, readiness articles, field reports, and public photo-review guidance.