For decades the New World screwworm fly devastated agriculture across the southern United States, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. At least until the 1950s when a strange combination of radiation, and releasing billions of the very fly they sought to eradicate into the wild. And today, the screwworm has all but disappeared from North America. This is the story of the Eradication of the Screwworm Fly.

Sources

Stop Screwworms: Selections from the Screwworm Eradication Collection

https://www.nal.usda.gov/exhibits/speccoll/exhibits/show/stop-screwworms--selections-fr

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/cattle/ticks/screwworm

Image: https://www.nal.usda.gov/exhibits/speccoll/items/show/7394

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