AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller met with representatives from several Latin American countries on Thursday to talk about the fight against the New World Screwworm.

The invader, which could severely damage the state's cattle industry, is not in Texas yet, but it has been inching closer to the U.S.-Mexico border. It's the larval form of a fly that nests in the wounds of warm-blooded animals like cattle, deer, pets and even humans and slowly eats them alive.

“In Texas, it threatens over 200 species of mammals, including human beings,” Miller said. “This is a very detrimental pest. Just our livestock industry would be over $30 billion threatened by this pest.”

The U.S. eradicated the screwworm decades ago, but there is an uptick in the pests in Mexico, and it's mov

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