Image source, Reuters
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- Author, Nardine Saad
- Author's title, BBC News
The authorities in the US confirmed the first case in a people of an infestation by a parasite that feeds on living tissue.
The myiasis by the New World Barrenader was diagnosed in a patient who returned to the US from El Salvador, the Department of Health and Human Services of the North American country reported on Monday. The case was confirmed on August 4.
The patient recovered without evidence of having infected other humans or animals, state health officials said in a statement.
Miasis is a parasitic infestation caused by fly larvae or worms.
Miasis by the New World Barrenador worm mainly affects cattle, and the authorities have declared that the risk to public health in the US is currently “very low.”
According to the newspaper The Washington Posta recent outbreak of the New World Barrencador worm in Central America has raised fears that it can spread to the United States and devastate the livestock industry.
Barrenading worms have been practically eradicated in the US in the last 50 years and the cattle that enters the country through the southern border is subjected to inspections and quarantines.
Image source, Getty Images
Broken in Central America
The centers for the control and prevention of the US disease (CDC) investigated the case with those responsible for the Department of Health of the State of Maryland.
The spokesman of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Andrew Nixon, said that it is the first case identified in humans in the country of myiasis by the new world of the new world associated with a trip from a country affected by the outbreak.
This devastating plague, caused by a parasite that feeds on the living tissue of the mammals to which it infects, is usually found in cattle in South and the Caribbean America.
Despite the efforts to stop their progress to the north, cases in cattle from all countries in Central America and Mexico have already been confirmed.
CDC point out that human beings, especially those with an open wound, are susceptible to infection and run a greater risk if they travel to those regions or if they are close to cattle in rural areas where flies are.
The Agricultural Health Inspection Service of the US Department of Agriculture has said that it has been associated with other agricultural agencies, the State Department and the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture to respond to the outbreak.
“When the NWS (worms) flip larvae get into the flesh of a living animal, cause serious, often mortal damage to the animal,” the Department of Agriculture explained. “The worm can infest cattle, pets, wild animals, occasionally birds and, in rare cases, people.”
A baranger worm outbreak in cattle could have serious economic consequences in the US, threatening more than US $ 100,000 million in economic activity linked to the livestock industry, according to estimates of the Department of Agriculture.
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