Gov. Greg Abbott and other state officials provided an update Friday afternoon on the New World screwworm case in Texas. The New World screwworm is a parasitic fly larva that infests the tissue of

By Tom Polansek and Cassandra Garrison LUBBOCK, Texas/SALTILLO, Mexico, June 6 (Reuters) - Lubbock Feeders has been fattening cattle in West Texas since Dwight Eisenhower was U.S. president. Now, row upon row of pens sit empty.

Florida has enacted emergency rules to block the flesh-eating screwworm from entering the state after the parasite was detected in Texas.

The quiet Texas cattle town ​of La Pryor has become ground zero in the fight against screwworm after the first U.S. case ‌in decades was detected there, prompting a livestock quarantine and putting ranchers and pet owners on edge.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott expressed concern Friday that a new factory isn’t expected to start breeding sterile New World screwworm flies for more than a year as a big part of the effort to stop its flesh-eating larvae from threatening the $113 U.

Texas officials are ramping up efforts with the USDA to combat the New World screwworm's spread in South Texas, posing risks to livestock, pets and humans.