Mexico City. - Fourteen months after the first registration, Mexico reports 14,321 accumulated cases of screwworm in livestock (GBG) and 870 active outbreaks, while authorities accelerate the construction of a sterile fly plant in the south of the country, amid the trade closure with the United States that already generates inflationary pressures, according to specialists.
According to the regulator's monitor, the National Service of Health, Food Safety and Agri-Food Quality (Senasica), between November 20, 2024 and January 20, 2026, 14,321 accumulated cases were counted, of which only 870 remain active.
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Chiapas leads the list with 5,580 accumulated cases, followed by Oaxaca (2,294), Veracruz (2,150), Yucatán (1,623), Tabasco (1,109), Campeche (706) and Quintana Roo (400).
By species, cattle totaled more than 10,106 accumulated cases, but GBG has already reached other species such as dogs, cats, birds and even humans, which amount to 105 cases of myiasis.
Construction of plants accelerates alongside dispersal efforts
In parallel to the surveillance, the Secretariat of Agriculture reported this Thursday that the Sterile Fly Production Plant in Metapa, Chiapas (south), is 50% complete and is expected to be operational during the first half of 2026, as a joint initiative with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
With the infrastructure, Senasica will have 100 million additional sterile flies per week, which will double the specimens currently brought from Panama.
Juan Carlos Anaya, general director of the Agricultural Markets Consulting Group (GCMA), explained in an interview that today "the only plant" in operation that produces sterile flies is in Panama and they are transported by plane.
He specified that there are dispersal centers in Tuxtla Gutiérrez and Tampico, with another planned in Aguascalientes, and estimated that eradication could take "a year and a half" or "two years", so, in the short term, the objective is to contain the plague to prevent its expansion towards states near the border.
Impacts and Costs
The closure of the United States to the export of Mexican cattle left without an outlet a little more than 1.2 million head between November 2024 and December 2025, with an estimated loss of foreign currency of 1.448 billion dollars, according to calculations by GCMA.
Anaya maintained that "there is no health risk" in the north of the country and stated that the closure is "a more political than technical issue," therefore, he considered that the border could be reopened with the current protocols.
The specialist also warned that the pressure also reaches the United States, as fattening cattle producers and processing plants would stop producing some 536,000 tons of meat and would lose an estimated value of 4.052 million dollars, while facing the worst drought since 1951 and the lowest cattle inventory, which has raised prices and "is impacting inflation" in both countries.
Anaya also commented that the cost of inspections has cost Mexican ranchers an additional 90 million dollars, while they have lost 362 million dollars more by having to direct their sales to the domestic market where 300 dollars less per head are paid.
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