New Mexico Wellness Wire: Tune in for your regularly scheduled screwworm update

Now that we've all digested our Thanksgiving dinners, it's time for an update on the New World screwworm.

A warning: What follows is — to borrow a phrase from Tom Paterson, president-elect of the New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association — "pretty gross."

Common in the Caribbean and Central America, New World screwworm flies' larvae burrow into the flesh of warm-blooded creatures — including livestock, pets, wildlife and, in some rare cases, people — and feast upon healthy tissue, causing severe and sometimes deadly damage.

The flies were once a major threat to American agriculture — posing a significant risk to the cattle and livestock industries — but were eradicated from the U.S. in the 1960s and largely haven't returned.

But they have gotten very close. Cases of New World screwworm