New World Screwworm's Return Threatens Caribbean and Central American Livestock Trade
The once-eradicated parasite's re-emergence endangers cattle exports and cross-border food trade across the region.
The New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite once eradicated from the United States, is re-emerging as a regional concern, with implications for livestock health and cross-border agricultural trade from Central America through the Caribbean. Belize’s efforts to protect cattle exports to Mexico sit squarely in the affected corridor.
For the diaspora, the risk is indirect but real: animal-health crises raise food prices and disrupt the agricultural trade that underpins several regional economies. It is a slow-moving signal worth watching for its effect on cost of living back home.