The United States has decided to launch millions of flies with airplanes on its own territory. It has good reasons

As killing flies to guns, in the United States they have decided to do it using more flies. Literally. For months the country faces the ghost of the Cochliomyia hominivoraxa fly that in its larval state is a serious threat to cattle, wildlife, pets and even Humans. Hence the country has devised a peculiar strategy to fight it: raise thousands of millions of flies and then release them from airplanes.

It sounds crazy, but it makes all the meaning.

There is no small enemy. At first glance the Cochliomyia hominivoraxalso known as the New World Barrenning Worm (or NWS) does not seem much. But that is with the naked eye, of course.

Although they are not much greater than common flies, in their Larval state they represent a considerable threat, especially for cattle, pets and wildlife. NWS females deposit the eggs in wounds or mucous membranes and, once they hatch, the larvae break through the meat, feeding thanks to their sharp oral hooks. Hence “BARRENOR WORD”.

Dead cattle in weeks. The species is so voracious that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) warns of its effects, the risk of cattle and what the nation is played by keeping it at bay. “It is crucial to protect our livestock industry, our economy and our food supply chain,” emphasize. In An interview With the AP Agency, Michael Bailey, director of the American Association of Veterinary Medicine, is even more explicit: the larvae can end a 450 kilos bovine in a matter of two weeks.

And why is it news? The boreride worm is An old acquaintance of the American authorities. Although the species is endemic to Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic and countries in South America, the US has been looking for a way to prevent the species from expanding north with the help of Panama.

Moreover, in his day he already deployed a strategy that allowed him A small outbreak Registered in the Florida Keys in 2017. The problem is that now the larva is calling again at the gates of the southern US, which has put the USDA on guard.

“Although the NWS has been eradicated from the country for decades, recent detections in Mexico, at points as north as Oaxaca and Veracruz, about 1,125 kilometers from the border, have led to the immediate suspension of the imports of living cattle, horses and bison in the US entry ports on the southern border on May 11,” I recognized The government recently.

Cattle lock and something else. Import blocking is only a small part of the Usda activated plan to curb the expansion of carnivorous parasite. The US authorities also want to have a vast network of facilities that allow him to raise hundreds of millions of NWS flies every week. And are willing to invest millions of dollars to achieve it.

The Agriculture Department has already announced the investment of 8.5 million in a southern Texas and other installation 21 million To re -adapt a metapa plant, in Mexico, which was dedicated to the breeding of fruit flies. The idea is that it now focuses on the NWS. Both facilities will also be added to another base of Panama that is already able to raise about 177 million flies every week, a figure that the USDA considers insufficient. Its goal is to get to 400 million.

But … raise flies for what? To have fewer flies. I know, it sounds inconsistent, but it makes all the meaning of the world. The flies that leave those hatcheries are not ‘normal’, but special specimens, males sterilized with radiation that can mate, but not (and this is the key) reproduce.

The idea is actually very simple: scientists raise millions of flies, billions, and then release them in the fields so that females mate with those altered males. The result are eggs unable to hatch, which translates into less larvae and, over time, in diminishing populations.

A solera technique. The technique is interesting for several reasons. For a start, Remember APit is more effective and ecological than resorting to pesticides. In addition, Washington has already proven that the system works relatively well. USDA remember which used the same “biological control technique” to end NWS populations in the 60s and the 2017 Florida outbreak.

The same strategy has also been deployed in other places to combat different pests. Los Angeles used it to stop the proliferation of the Fruit fly And Singapore did something similar with the mosquitoes They transmit dengue.

‘Bombing’ of flies. Raising sterile male flies is just the first part of the plan. To work and stop the carnivorous worm, something else must be done: release those diptera strategically. And the US already knows how to do it.

The Associated Press agency It has relieved that the government proposes to throw the altered specimens on southern Texas and Mexico. In fact he hopes to have In late of this same year a special installation to disperse insects in the Moore Air Baselocated almost at the border with Mexico. The new farm of southern Mexico would take something more to be ready. It would not be activated until July 2026.

Images | USDA (Flickr), APHIS-USA and Wikipedia

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