Six deaths reported among screwworm cases, one directly attributed to the flies.

Six deaths reported among screwworm cases, one directly attributed to the flies.

Since the flesh-eating screwworm fly reinvaded Mexico in 2024, human cases of the voracious parasite have been mounting. According to a July surveillance report from Mexico’s Ministry of Health, there have been over 500 human cases in 2025 and 2026. A study this week in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases analyzed the information on over 200 confirmed cases reported between April 2025 and March 2026 and found that the infestation pace is increasing.

Among the 200 confirmed cases in the study, six deaths were reported. At least one of the deaths was directly caused by the fly’s maggots, researchers in Mexico reported in the study.

The New World screwworm (NWS) fly was once endemic in Mexico—as well as the US. The flies lay hundreds of eggs in the wounds, inflamed tissue, mucous membranes, and orifices of warm-blooded creatures. The resulting maggots hatch within a day and begin ravenously feasting on the living flesh of their victims. While the fly’s maggots generate ghastly, life-threatening wounds in a variety of warm-blooded species, including humans, they’re particularly devastating to livestock.

  • MagicShel@lemmy.zipEnglish
    80·
    4 days ago

    I think this is a big mechanism with watching history repeat itself.

    “Why do we need unions? They don’t seem to do much.”

    “Infections aren’t a big deal. You just take some antibiotics until you start to feel better.”

    “These fascist fellows have some reasonable points. We shouldn’t hate them for having opinions.”

    One reason things seem of little import is a whole bunch of people put a lot into getting them under control, hiding the true horrors from future generations who don’t look closely.

    • BillyClark@piefed.socialEnglish
      15·
      3 days ago

      I thought there might be a name for this kind of logical fallacy, but I couldn’t find one. Maybe somebody else will enlighten me. The Doorman fallacy is somewhat similar.

      The doorman fallacy is a category error in which a complex human role is reduced to a function, leading to the assumption that it can be replaced with a cost-effective automated substitute without loss of value, with decision-makers failing to understand the indirect, intangible, non-visible value they provide.

      I’ve also run into similar things during my career in software. The better I wrote a specific piece of code, the less impressed people were with it, because they’d look at it and say, “Yeah, that’s completely obvious, and therefore, I’d definitely write it the same way. Anybody would.” But of course, I’ve seen enough of their code to know they would never write it like that.

      When you only see the end result, it can be difficult to appreciate the effort that went into coming up with that result.