Tissue samples from a potential flesh-eating screwworm outbreak at a Texas cattle ranch have been forwarded to a federal laboratory in Iowa for analysis, according to Texas Representative Don McLaughlin, who spoke about the matter on Wednesday.
The specimens were collected from two calves at a ranch in La Pryor, Texas on Tuesday, McLaughlin reported. The representative stated he had viewed photographs and video footage documenting these suspected cases.
A photograph that Reuters reviewed, which McLaughlin verified as depicting the same incident, had been shared among livestock producers throughout Wednesday, causing unrest in cattle futures markets. Reuters was unable to immediately authenticate the photograph.
The Texas Animal Health Commission informed Reuters on Wednesday that no verified case of New World screwworm has been documented in Texas. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees screwworm prevention efforts nationwide, did not provide an immediate response to requests for comment.
Earlier this week, the agency stated that McLaughlin had provided incorrect information when he claimed a confirmed case existed one mile south of the Texas border. The USDA verified a case located 25 miles south of the Texas border in Coahuila state on Tuesday.
