May 29 (Reuters) - The United States will likely resume Mexican cattle imports by year-end, after a halt due to the spread in Mexico of the New World screwworm pest that can devastate livestock, the U.S. agriculture department’s chief veterinarian said on Wednesday.
Screwworm can infest livestock, wildlife, and in rare cases, people. Maggots from screwworm flies burrow into the skin of animals, causing serious and often fatal damage.
The USDA indefinitely suspended cattle imports from Mexico this month, citing the pest’s northward movement.
“We want to make sure that we’re comfortable that the way that they’re doing surveillance gives us a good picture of what our risk level is for the fly continuing to move north,” USDA’s chief veterinary officer, Rosemary Sifford, told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Organization for Animal Health’s annual assembly in Paris.
“It’s hard to say exactly when, but (imports will resume) for sure before the end of the year, unless something really dramatically changes,” Sifford said.
No new cases of screwworm have been found farther north than one detected two weeks ago about 700 miles from the U.S.-Mexican border, Sifford said.
