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The Fall and Rise of Screwworm

construction-physics.com

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Re: The Fall and Rise of Screwworm

#51

Post by mschuster91 »

> And when it was clear that screwworms had breached the barrier, responses were sometimes delayed by political disputes — Mexico apparently initially made it very difficult for USDA screwworm flights to operate until the US Agricultural Secretary called to force the issue.

DOGE aside, as the article and commenters already mentioned that - if that giant buffoon Trump wouldn't have gone and screwed up relations with virtually every country south of the US sans Argentinia and El Salvador, including invading Venezuela to oust their president, maaaaybe other countries wouldn't find the risk of screwworm more acceptable than risking American government flights over their countries.

The damage the two Trump administrations caused will take decades to repair. And frankly if I were a country south of the US - I'd invest in my own resources to combat screwworms. There simply is no guarantee that, even if Trump fails and someone sane is elected in two years, they won't elect someone just as braindead in six years.

Re: The Fall and Rise of Screwworm

#52

Post by kurthr »

beloch wrote: post #47
JKCalhoun wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Some anti-screwworm efforts may have been hindered by DOGE, which cut APHIS staff, screwworm monitoring programs, and may have delayed funding for the Mexico facility…" Yep.

There appears to be some controversy over whether DOGE's cuts directly caused this specific outbreak[1]. --- "Though it appeared DOGE did cancel funding to the FAO, which works to monitor and control outbreaks of screwworm, in 2025, it was not possible based on the available evidence to conclude that the canceled grant directly caused the outbreak in the U.S. or to determine how it might have affected the FAO's work…

The screwworm is spread by the DOGE fly.

Re: The Fall and Rise of Screwworm

#53

Post by jiggawatts »

spacemanspiff01 wrote: post #44
srean wrote: post #32

I have a question for folks who have background in interventions like these. Isn't there a risk that the artificially introduced reproductory pressures would select for screwworms that produce males that are resistant to radiation. My chain of reasoning is that not all the of the irradiated males would be completely sterile. If so, then the next generation would be a mix of hatchlings of not radiated parents and thos…

Not knowledgable, but irradiated flies should not be expected to be irradiated again. There are 3 population pools: 1. The Factory spawning population - This is self-sustained, and never encounters radiation. 2. A subset of the spawned males from the factory population are irradiated, making them sterile. 3. The wild population, consisting of the sterile males + wild males + wild females. If for some reason the steri…

There can be selection pressure for females to mate with multiple males.

Releasing sterile males only works for species that mate only once or at most twice, and rapidly falls off in effectiveness for species where the females mate many times.

Re: The Fall and Rise of Screwworm

#55

Post by yread »

It sounds like the original research done 30s-50s would not be possible today. No one is getting an ethics approval for that. And "let me just get some cobalt-60" is probably also not happening

Re: The Fall and Rise of Screwworm

#56

Post by kulahan »

srean wrote: post #39
SoftTalker wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure radiation resistance is really a thing. Radiation causes physical damage, it's not like a virus or bacteria that an organism can potentially fight off with an immune response. The few males that might survive the gamma exposure with intact fertility are probably just ones that didn't get a full dose. It is rather amazing to me in fact that it's possible to sterilize the males without killing them.

Couldn't there be genes that help with repairing the radiation induced damage ? From what I have read, flora and fauna around Chernobyl seems to have acquired degrees of radiation tolerance. BTW I am a complete ignoramus in these matters.

Yes. There isn’t much evolutionary benefit and it would be insanely calorically expensive, but there’s no reason a creature couldn’t evolve some kind of DNA repair or something to that effect.

Iirc, elephants almost never get cancer, nor do lobsters.

There are already bacteria found near Chernobyl which consume radiation.

Re: The Fall and Rise of Screwworm

#57

Post by SoftTalker »

It's a bit odd that the screwworm exists. Normally a parasite that kills its host is at an evolutionary disadvantage.

I wonder if the human practice of keeping large groups of livestock together in close proximity creates an unnatural "target rich environment" for the flies that they don't otherwise experience, making them much more of a problem.

Re: The Fall and Rise of Screwworm

#58

Post by edoceo »

SoftTalker wrote: post #57

It's a bit odd that the screwworm exists. Normally a parasite that kills its host is at an evolutionary disadvantage. I wonder if the human practice of keeping large groups of livestock together in close proximity creates an unnatural "target rich environment" for the flies that they don't otherwise experience, making them much more of a problem.

Can't we just compare this to "wild" population?

Re: The Fall and Rise of Screwworm

#59

Post by search_facility »

yread wrote: post #55

It sounds like the original research done 30s-50s would not be possible today. No one is getting an ethics approval for that. And "let me just get some cobalt-60" is probably also not happening

Current situation exist presisely due researches of 20th century though. This is largely connected things

Re: The Fall and Rise of Screwworm

#60

Post by nine_k »

SoftTalker wrote: post #57

It's a bit odd that the screwworm exists. Normally a parasite that kills its host is at an evolutionary disadvantage. I wonder if the human practice of keeping large groups of livestock together in close proximity creates an unnatural "target rich environment" for the flies that they don't otherwise experience, making them much more of a problem.

Ungulates very often gather in large, close groups in nature, in order to defend themselves from predators, and to conserve heat during night time.
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