USDA, US Army Break Ground on Texas Facility to Combat Flesh-Eating Parasite Spread

The facility, when fully operational, can produce 300 million sterile flies per week to counter the New World Screwworm threat.

Cattle graze near the US–Mexico border wall in Nogales, Ariz., on Sept. 16, 2025. Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. officials broke ground for a New World Screwworm (NWS) sterile fly production facility in Texas to combat the flesh-eating parasites, which have spread across Mexico and pose a significant threat to America’s livestock, wildlife, and public health.

Located in Moore Air Base, Edinburg, the facility “is being built with an aggressive timeline designed to quickly expand the nation’s sterile fly production capacity,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in an April 17 statement.