Jared Laureles and Juan Carlos G. Partida
Reporter and correspondent
La Jornada Newspaper
Saturday, November 8, 2025, p. 13
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Sader) detected and attended to a case of cattle screwworm (GBG), coming from the south-southeast of the country, in a feedlot in the municipality of Encarnación de Díaz, Jalisco.
It represents the first incidence of this pest in the main livestock producing entity; Meanwhile, the federal agency assured that it is an isolated case that was “contained and without risk” for Jalisco livestock.
The incident was identified during a routine inspection of a shipment of cattle from Campeche with 79 animals, to which the deactivation protocol was applied, delimiting a focal and perifocal area with a radius of 20 and 40 kilometers, respectively.
It was the dog Hummertrained by the Agri-Food Health, Safety and Quality Agency of the state of Jalisco, the one who found the larvae – it was later learned that there were at least 20 – in the ear of one of the 79 cattle, so a physical and visual inspection was carried out, finding a wound next to the identification earring.
The National Agri-Food Health, Safety and Quality Service (Senasica) activated the Incursion Attention Protocol and reinforced surveillance and epidemiological tracking, and reiterated the call to report any suspicion of the screwworm.
“Strict adherence to health protocols, as well as cooperation with the government of Jalisco and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (Aphis) of the United States Department of Agriculture, support the effectiveness of the epidemiological surveillance system, which allows early detection and timely attention to GBG incursions,” Sader emphasized.
Pablo Lemus, head of the local Executive, announced that in Jalisco it is only one case and assured that “we have it under control”, after highlighting the performance of the “adopted dogs” and trained for the health inspection.
Fight the plague
Last Thursday, Sader registered a draft in which the federal government proposes expanding the emergency operation to combat the screwworm plague to the entire Mexican territory, as it caused the closure of the border to exports of Mexican livestock with the United States; The last time was last July and this measure is in force.
In the document, published in the National Commission for Regulatory Improvement, it is contemplated that not only the livestock industry will have to make provisions, but that this obligation will be extended to all people who enter or circulate through the country accompanied by animals susceptible to contracting the plague, that is, not only livestock, but also birds, dogs and cats.
