Deer eaten alive in Florida signals reappearance of devastating parasite

[vellavu]

Deer eaten alive in Florida signals reappearance of devastating parasite

A deadly, flesh-eating parasite has once again invaded southern Florida and is ravaging animals, sparking a local agricultural emergency. State and federal authorities there are now fighting to zap the invasive infestation before it can cause catastrophic damage to the region.

The New World screwworm fly, which infests open wounds and feasts on living tissue, was last seen in the US during the 1970s, following half-a-century of hard-fought eradication efforts in the Southeast US and Central America.

But this year, state officials in the Florida Keys started seeing grotesque lesions on Key deer—an endangered species that is the smallest of North America’s white-tailed deer. Since July, about 15 percent of the Key deer population (132 animals) have died of the infection, and authorities have found other animals in the area, mostly pets, infected. Authorities confirmed the fly’s return through lab testing in late September.

 

[GraceK]

Just one more reason not visit Florida😉

 

[Ethan Reigns]

The eradication of the screwworm fly was one of the interesting stories of the 1970's. Screwworm flies only mate once and what was done about 40 years ago was they raised huge numbers of male flies and sterilized them with gamma rays. The year after they did this, the number of flies dropped significantly because they had air-dropped these sterilized males in overwhelmingly large quantities and the females did not see any difference between sterile and fertile males. Two years after that they were apparently extinct because the small proportion of fertile males did not meet enough females to carry the population forward.

The open wound they prefer to live in is the umbilical cord of newborn cattle but they will take on other targets as well. This may be a new population brought in from elsewhere. When I was growing up, my next-door neighbour caught malaria from a mosquito that escaped the Ontario Food Terminal, a large distribution complex about half a mile south of us. The mosquito probably came in on a shipment of bananas.

 

[thetopher]

'Can I just say: Yeeuggh!'
'I'll see your Yeeuggh and raise you a 'Gnyeh!'

 

[Professor Walsh]

Of all the lectures I had during my first year in Uni, I think the one on parasites is the one I remember most vividly.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

Apparently there is a parasite on the east coast of America, it goes by the name of D. Trumpitis.