{"id":1664,"date":"2010-11-16T12:13:22","date_gmt":"2010-11-16T01:13:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceillustrated.com.au\/blog\/?p=1664"},"modified":"2010-11-16T12:15:24","modified_gmt":"2010-11-16T01:15:24","slug":"maggot-factory-offers-hope-against-flesh-eating-parasites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceillustrated.com.au\/blog\/features\/maggot-factory-offers-hope-against-flesh-eating-parasites\/","title":{"rendered":"Maggot factory offers hope against flesh-eating parasites"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A factory in the southeastern Mexican city of Tuxtla Gutierrez is hard at work churning out an unusual product: bugs.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>Sterile screwworm flies (Cochliomyia hominivorax<\/em>) have been bred here since 1976 as part of a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) eradication program.<\/p>\n

In the wild, female screwworm flies lay as many as 400 eggs near open wounds on animals. The maggots that develop use two needle-sharp, hook-shaped mouthparts to burrow deep into the animal’s flesh. The swarm of screwworms can consume so much tissue that the victim is virtually eaten alive from within.<\/p>\n

Screwworm flies, which are found in most tropical regions around the world, were first documented on Devil’s Island off the coast of French Guiana in 1858. From there they spread throughout the warmer regions of the Americas, and by the first half of the 1900s, the parasites were wreaking havoc on livestock. In the southern US, Texas alone suffered $11.2 million in losses in 1935.<\/p>\n

By the late 1940s, scientists were aggressively seeking a method to control the flies. In the early ’50s, USDA entomologists Raymond C. Bushland and Edward F. Knipling developed a technique to irradiate the flies, rendering them sterile.<\/p>\n

View more: Click the images below to learn more about Screwworm breeding. <\/strong><\/p>\n

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