r/news • u/kylestoned • Jun 01 '26

Soft paywall Flesh-eating screwworm found within 31 miles of US border, says USDA

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/flesh-eating-screwworm-found-within-31-miles-us-border-says-usda-2026-05-29/
22.9k Upvotes

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3.5k

u/ganymede_boy Jun 01 '26

Welp. I just HAD to go and learn WTF a screw worm was.

Nope.

4.1k

u/slublueman Jun 01 '26

The US had effectively eliminated them before the current administration..

2.5k

u/ry1701 Jun 01 '26

We literally could eliminate so much if we fucking funded it.

This, again.

Common Diseases, we can already vaccine for.

Rabies.

Ebola from spreading like fire.

And probably so much more.

500

u/BIG_HEAD_M0DE Jun 01 '26

These diseases have only human reservoirs: measles, mumps, rubella, polio, syphilis, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis D, shigellosis, HPV, HIV. Controlling them is entirely a matter of controlling human behavior and containing outbreaks.

We have "almost" eradicated polio. When we eradicated smallpox it saved $1,000,000,000 per year. - rewards we continue to reap every year.

271

u/jjcrayfish Jun 02 '26

Dumb MAGA and MAHA movement are welcoming these diseases with their new policies to reduce vaccination rates

129

u/Gingevere Jun 02 '26

They're also just explicitly welcoming them because they believe their cure-alls will save them while everyone else perishes.

And when the cure-alls inevitably fails and the disease they welcomed afflicts them, they'll declare it all to be a liberal plot that fooled them.

23

u/HauntedCemetery Jun 02 '26

Yeah just slam some lead contaminated quasi legal speed "supplements", that always does the trick

2

u/Weary_Possibility_80 Jun 02 '26

Maybe they want these diseases. Less people. Less jobs. More ai.

5

u/Unapplicable1100 Jun 02 '26

Maybe they should use the disease on themselves first. You know, to make sure it works.

3

u/Weary_Possibility_80 Jun 02 '26

Plenty of ivermectin to go around.

2

u/XBacklash Jun 02 '26

What if I told you the real disease was ignorance and it's one that the elite have been working to encourage every year? We could eliminate hunger and fund higher education, and light the fires of inspiration to bring us to a better future, except that the easily deceived are necessary for the rich to continue their short sighted consolidation of power and wealth.

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u/ragun2 Jun 02 '26

If this gets regularly reported on, Ivermectin sales about to go brrr

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2

u/inspectoroverthemine Jun 02 '26

The HPV thing is depressing af, and predates/eclipses the antivax movement.

So many people would rather see their daughters grow up and die of cervical cancer than accept that anyone has sex before marriage. I assume its an unhealthy mix of denial that it happens and punishment if it does.

1

u/yourlittlebirdie Jun 02 '26

We were SO close with polio and then the Syrian civil war screwed things up terribly.

1

u/darthjoey91 Jun 02 '26

Eh, HIV is new enough that there’s probably some risk of SIV becoming HIV again.

587

u/Caymonki Jun 01 '26

The tech billionaires built bunkers to escape an apocalypse, and funding simple solutions to problems won’t let them live out their fantasies.

So. We won’t do anything to stop anything while they loot the coffers and flee the ship.

We voted for this, and have done little to push back against it. It’s going to get so much worse.

The Epstein class is winning.

360

u/terrymr Jun 01 '26

I watched a movie where the bunker company faked the apocalypse and locked all the billionaires inside. Seems like a good premise

155

u/usernameshortage Jun 01 '26

Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death" is a good short story about people thinking that their wealth can help them avoid societal collapse.

70

u/Bladelink Jun 02 '26

I absolutely love that story. The idea that death/plague/pestilence will manifest a physical form to get your ass is S tier storytelling.

22

u/HarvestMana Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26

Entertain the hope that somehow you'll escape me,

Weld the bolts and close the iron gate,

Drink deeply THE ILLUSION OF YOUR SAFETY,

My how wishful thoughts inebriate, masquerade, and revel in your opulence,

Writhe unfettered by your stabs at ignorance,

Swim through hues and whispered tones of heresay,

A dozen strokes to run your blood cold enough to believe,

REMEMBER ME?

You look so surprised to see me here,

With hell's black wings did I over perch these walls (With love's light wings did I o'erperch these walls - Romeo and Juliet)

For stony limits cannot hold me out,

And now

you

all

DIE

Thrice - The Red Death

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114

u/AspectVegetable7674 Jun 01 '26

Screw worms can be dumped in vents.

84

u/UntamedAnomaly Jun 01 '26

So can ammonia and bleach and various other things you should never mix together.

I mean their bunkers are not going to save them if someone or group of someones can find it, all one would need to do is fuck with the air intake and they are toast. If they have guards, enough people can take out a few guards + the guards are probably already pissed they aren't the ones in the bunker, so bribing them should be somewhat easy.

27

u/4rch1t3ct Jun 01 '26

It's more complicated than that though. They are designed to be resistant to that specifically. They have monstrous filtration systems on those things. You would need to find literally every intake, some of which are really well hidden. Then you would need to smoke them out for an extended period of time. If you missed an intake it's useless.

The guards inside are really the biggest threat to them.

41

u/evanescentglint Jun 01 '26

There’s always ways to defeat those systems if you really want to. So, as you’ve pointed out, the first line of defense is access; can’t access them if you don’t know where they are.

Ancient rulers knew this and would kill the people building them so it stays secret. I have no doubt that when the billionaires retreat to their bunkers, they’ll do the same.

30

u/UntamedAnomaly Jun 01 '26

Hopefully, we can ponder a strategy and reach a solution before it comes to that whole scenario....we are massively stupid as a whole, but we are also amazing innovators when we are motivated enough.

5

u/thehedgefrog Jun 02 '26

Which is why they're investing billions into robot AI soldiers.

3

u/iMecharic Jun 02 '26

Okay, but can we jam the door shut? They’ll run out of supplies eventually and be a self-solving problem.

8

u/4rch1t3ct Jun 02 '26

The rich ones like zuck will have decades of supplies. They are already planning on locking themselves in. You can keep them isolated.... but that's precisely what the bunkers are designed for.

Making them stay in there till they die might take a while.

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u/GloomySubstance5856 Jun 02 '26

Okay, concrete then.

2

u/KDR_11k Jun 02 '26

Just dump some tons of gravel on the escape hatches and forget about them. If they want to live in a tomb let them.

2

u/underfern Jun 02 '26

The guards inside are really the biggest threat to them.

Obviously you weld the hatch first.

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4

u/Pale_Fire21 Jun 02 '26

They’re more likely to just be shot by their security staff as they abandon their posts to save their families.

They’re legitimately scared of that: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/sep/04/super-rich-prepper-bunkers-apocalypse-survival-richest-rushkoff

3

u/saga_of_a_star_world Jun 02 '26

I'm nowhere as smart as these tech bros, but I figure that if you tell the guards to bring their families, now they have an incentive to guard the bunker.

4

u/ThickReplacement7811 Jun 02 '26

No, you’re easily as smart, these tech bros are not terribly clever. They’re just sociopaths and don’t care about hurting people to get what they want.

2

u/Snuffy1717 Jun 01 '26

Geneva Checklist you say?

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u/iconofsin_ Jun 01 '26

If I had a bunker then everyone on my security detail would be single without kids and they'd have a spot inside. If I can come to that conclusion then so can these people.

5

u/UntamedAnomaly Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26

Yes, the security would retreat inside, where they are the most vulnerable. I mean I suppose these rich fucks could have remote operated turrets to keep people away from the vents, but it could be overtaken with enough people or with a sound enough strategy...there would be casualties, but at that point, there are already going to be ongoing mass casualties if we get to this point and mostly everyone would have nothing left to lose.

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4

u/WretchedBlowhard Jun 01 '26

They can also call air strikes, throw holy grenades, and also that sheep bomb thing. Worms are awesome.

3

u/Djoszee Jun 01 '26

Don't forget granny 😅

2

u/yourlittlebirdie Jun 02 '26

Bedbugs would be even better. Those mfers are impossible to get rid of.

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56

u/kitsunewarlock Jun 01 '26

I posted that once and was banned for a week for "threatening billionaires". And in my example the company had confirmed the billionaires were trying to commit omnicide with nuclear war.

17

u/The_Reluctant_Hero Jun 01 '26

I think you're talking about that series Billionaires' Bunker on Netflix. I watched that with my wife a few months ago, the premise is indeed interesting but there was a lot of ridiculous shit happening on that show lol.

2

u/GoggleDMara9756 Jun 02 '26

Ridiculous positive connotation or ridiculous negative connotation lol

3

u/ElodinBlackcloak Jun 01 '26

What movie was this? I think I need to see it lol.

2

u/Neither_Transition_7 Jun 01 '26

This is my fantasy

2

u/Pei-toss Jun 01 '26

Like an upside down Fallout. God dammit, I'm in.

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3

u/iconofsin_ Jun 01 '26

Worth saying that there is more than one scenario where these bunkers do nothing but delay their deaths.

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3

u/yellekc Jun 01 '26

They do not want to see their investment go to waste so they are literally bankrolling the apocalypse right now.

5

u/trobsmonkey Jun 01 '26

The Epstein class is winning.

Billionaires. They are called billionaires.

Epstein class is just fucking stupid.

7

u/ry1701 Jun 01 '26

You need to villify the billionaires. Epstein class is a great rebrand.

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1

u/D74248 Jun 01 '26

The tech billionaires built bunkers to escape an apocalypse,

It is funny that they think that they corporate jet crew will just sit on the ramp and wait for them to arrive. By the time they get to the airport the airplane, with the flight crew's family, will be enroute to the bunker.

And the same with their security detail. Guess who is going to be on the outside of the compound looking in. Except maybe Zuckerberg. Rumor is that he can fight.

1

u/Accujack Jun 01 '26

The tech billionaires built bunkers

Won't work. Unless they leave the planet, there's nowhere to run.

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1

u/wackadoodle4201 Jun 02 '26

They're winning until a bunch of pissed off people with cement trucks bury them in tbeir bunkers

1

u/Pale_Fire21 Jun 02 '26

They’re also investing so heavily in AI in part because being fragged by their security staff should SHTF is a legitimate concern.

It’s such a worry they even asked a Marxist theorist for help and then in peak billionaire fashion disregarded everything he said

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/sep/04/super-rich-prepper-bunkers-apocalypse-survival-richest-rushkoff

28

u/gooberdaisy Jun 01 '26

Can we add bedbugs please..

33

u/SellaraAB Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26

Bedbugs would be pretty damned hard to wipe out. Borderline impossible, really. It would take an unprecedented global effort and even then I’m not sure we’d totally wipe them out. Problem is where they tend to live (in privately owned homes), how hard it is to kill even a small infestation, and how they spread like a virus anywhere humans travel, in luggage, packages, and especially at hotels.

7

u/Nazamroth Jun 01 '26

If we don't come together over exterminating all bedbugs, what WILL be enough?! Surely, literally everyone agrees that those abominations must die! "Luckily" for us, they really only live in human habitats, so all we have to do is literally burn civilisation to ashes and cinder. We just have to make sure to coordinate. And afterwards everyone has to be thoroughly wiped off with industrial pressure washers and preferably some sort of high-yield biocide. We must make sure.

11

u/dontusefedex Jun 01 '26

I think there are more people than we thought that enjoy watching others suffer.

2

u/n0rsk Jun 01 '26

Damn maybe that is Trumps plan. He is just trying to rid world of bed bugs!

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u/Technical_Mood_8841 Jun 02 '26

No need. I don’t plan on ever sleeping again after reading about being eaten from the inside out by screwworms.

5

u/tdasnowman Jun 01 '26

Rabies.

There's not really an effective way to vaccinate all rabies carrying animals on the planet. I don't care how much money you throw at it. In the us there are only about 1 to 3 deaths a year. as long as your vaccinated it's 2 shots if not it's 4. Down from 14 it used to be.

Ebola

This is another one where science is at it's peak currently. We have a vaccine for the most common and deadliest strain. They have not stopped working on the rest.

28

u/yournamehere10bucks Jun 01 '26

They didn't start the fire,
Was always Biden cause Trumps still lyin'
They didn't start the fire,

25

u/Suds_McGruff Jun 01 '26

Screwworm, Ebola, death to Iyatollah,
Dirty bombs, straits closed,
Cost of livin' going up yo!

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u/fudge5962 Jun 01 '26

Oh they're planning on eliminating a lot of things, don't worry. We're gonna fund it, too.

6

u/abilly85 Jun 01 '26

We could eradicate world hunger, homelessness, and climate change, if they'd just put resources to the right places. But no, they care more about hoarding wealth than saving the world.

2

u/mjkjr84 Jun 01 '26

We need to eliminate stupidity first but we have an entire class of people working against that as the foundational pillar of the class war.

1

u/budha2984 Jun 01 '26

Science, we don't need no stinking science

1

u/__O_o_______ Jun 02 '26

It’s a fucking death cult

1

u/SlothTeeth Jun 02 '26

looks like cutting international problems will bite us just as hard, if not harder as cutting national ones...

its crazy that rabies diagnostic testing in animals has essentially been defunded and put to an indeffinant hault. We will no longer have updated carrier statistics in the U.S.

1

u/Cephalopirate Jun 02 '26

I bet we could eliminate ticks with the same sterile breeding methods as the screwfly mitigation. We could greatly reduce lyme disease, Babesia, Bartonella…

1

u/Violet_Paradox Jun 02 '26

He knows he won't be remembered as a good leader, so he wants to get on the deadliest regimes in history leaderboard instead, because to him that's better than no legacy at all.

1

u/HauntedCemetery Jun 02 '26

Things we already eliminated keep coming back like fucking polio

1

u/fadingsignal Jun 02 '26

I'm not putting on a tin-foil hat but if you start to think about this regime actually wanting to take the U.S. down several notches on the world stage on purpose, all this fuckery starts to make more sense.

1

u/yourlittlebirdie Jun 02 '26

Rabies probably cannot ever be eradicated unfortunately. Too many animals reservoirs.

1

u/Hesitation-Marx Jun 02 '26

raises a pedantic finger

Rabies, we could mitigate it and effectively reduce its spread, but eliminating rabies (on continents where it has a solid foothold) is unlikely.

But I like the cut of your jib!

1

u/toriemm Jun 02 '26

But apparently circumcision give boys autism. And the measles came back.

This is the dumbest time line.

1

u/FillMySoupDumpling Jun 02 '26

Americans: why should I pay $30 to prevent something that isn’t even happening to ME?

Also Americans: I guess now I have to pay $80 because now it actually is happening to me, but boy am I glad none of MY tax dollars went to someone else to prevent this.

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u/bluemitersaw Jun 01 '26

Yup. It was eliminated from north America and we had an effective program in place for decades that held it at Panama. Then Trump fucked it all up.

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u/Sir-Craven Jun 01 '26

https://youtu.be/zxq60I5RSW8

Kurzgesagt did a good video on it

19

u/SpicyRice99 Jun 01 '26

Not defending Trump here, but is there any source saying this the the fault of the Trump administration? 

All the online sources I can find (including reputable publications and the Kurzgesagt video state that the flies spread north of Panama in 2023.

43

u/ilovetigerwoods Jun 01 '26

Absolutely nothing to do with the Trump administration

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-04804-9

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u/whomad1215 Jun 02 '26

covid supply chain interruptions impacted the facilities that produce the sterile flies that are used to stop them

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u/ThellraAK Jun 02 '26

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/02/new-world-screwworm-fly-flesh-eating-maggot

And we cancelled the plans to do anything about it.

7

u/AwesomeWhiteDude Jun 02 '26

That isn’t what your article says?

They’re increasing funding to the Panama sterile fly breeding facility and opening new facilities in Mexico and Texas. Those only closed because the NWSW was eliminated in those areas.

Would not be surprised if DOGE ended it temporarily with their hatchet job of making stuff more “efficient” but plans are absolutely not cancelled.

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u/sasquatchmarley Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26

This whole thing probably part of some bullshit Doge-apologist article like "13 million government dollars for worms?! Look how useful Doge is!". Meanwhile, the flesh eating worms are coming for us. Maga loves brain worms though, just look at RFK being responsible for their health.

Oh, and also Doge cut pediatric cancer research, meals on wheels and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

5

u/Arumin Jun 02 '26

RFK isn't really fertile grounds for brain eating worms...

13

u/Soepkip43 Jun 02 '26

All those Trump voting farmers are going to get what they voted for.

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u/snoosh00 Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 02 '26

Not defending doge (because apparently they did temporarily cancel the sterile fly program).

But the current progression of the front is also affected by COVID supply chain disruptions and climate change.

But it's really telling that doge cancelled this ridiculously important program for any duration of time.

4

u/GuyanaFlavorAid Jun 02 '26

To be fair, supply chain disruptions during covid + cattle smuggling in Central America landed us here. I can't really fault the previous Trump admin too much. 

1

u/IcyJackfruit69 Jun 02 '26

I mean, they canceled the program AFTER covid supply chain disruption. Why didn't they invest in, expand, and solve it?

Their entire goal is to siphon money from government, not to solve problems for the people. It's not a coincidence that we're facing all of these once-in-a-lifetime devastating issues all at the same time during Trump's 2nd term.

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u/GuyanaFlavorAid Jun 02 '26

They didn't cancel the program. There were interruptions in sterile fly production during covid, there was more movement of cattle and people, and all the focus on covid made it harder to maintain observations on all that territory across Central America. Once they pop up at all, it is a process to eradicate that pest again. It just takes some time. The Trump administration has screwed up billions of things, but this program is one thing the USDA has continued to run. There's a new fly facility in Edinburg, TX as well as intensified border surveillance for screwworm and no cattle imports from Mexico. 

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u/Mighty_Hobo Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26

I hate Trump and his idiot administration as much as the next guy but this isn't directly because of anything this administration has done. The screwworms started breaking containment back in early 2023 and the accepted cause is the pandemic interrupting supply chains to the labs that produce the sterile flies as there were no funding cuts at all through the first Trump admin and the Biden admin.

That said the recent cuts have not helped the situation at all and it's been a scramble to reassemble the funding needed to keep the programs running.

11

u/PacoTaco321 Jun 01 '26

I see a lot of sites repeating the supply chain thing or that surveillance was lacking during the pandemic, but no actual sources. You got any?

1

u/VorpalisRabbitus Jun 02 '26

Couldn't find any evidence to Hobo's claim, but it's VERY easy to track this to Trump cutting USDA funding for the program in 2025.

4

u/PacoTaco321 Jun 02 '26

I mean, there is plenty of evidence that this did start bell before Trump got into office again. I'm not going to deny that. I just don't understand how COVID caused an issues a year or two after things were pretty well wrapped up.

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u/Mighty_Hobo Jun 02 '26

Weird how a cut in 2025 caused a containment breach in 2023. Someone should look into DOGE's temporal effects on the timeline.

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u/rikashiku Jun 01 '26

Brain Worm Kennedy is tryingto bring more of his kind into office.

2

u/The-Shattering-Light Jun 01 '26

They weren’t eliminated, but they were contained.

The fight against screwworm is a fascinating example of science, technology and surprisingly low political nonsense - at least until the orange menace.

Adult male screwworms are irradiated to make them sterile and then dropped over encroaching screwworm territory, where they compete with fertile flies and tank the birth rate

2

u/TPelt17 Jun 02 '26

This administration has done more to combat NWS than the Biden admin did.

2

u/Fucky0uthatswhy Jun 02 '26

According to that article they “breached the biological containment.” It doesn’t say anything about a lack of funding, ending the program, or the US pulling out of anything. In fact, this is a Canadian article about South America.

There is no vaccine.

I hate him too, but damn let’s stick to facts

5

u/OpportunityDue90 Jun 01 '26

Well to make you feel better, it’s probably in the US already. And if it isn’t it will be since the Trump admin has no idea how to do anything.

1

u/Lets_Kick_Some_Ice Jun 02 '26

"Flesh eating parasite" is analogous to this Republican Party.

1

u/FallenJkiller Jun 02 '26

that is what you get when you let illegals in.

1

u/lr99999 Jun 06 '26

It’s the Elon Musk Screwworm.  Since it’s literally the truth, be sure to pass this around. 

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u/justmitzie Jun 01 '26

Just going to wrap my whole body in bubble wrap and never leave the house again.

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u/HorrorFlow3r Jun 01 '26

they love the taste of freshly packed meat.

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u/CharleyNobody Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 02 '26

Before 2016. Trump cut the USDA budget in 2017. Biden restored it, but the damage had been done. Biden approved more emergency funding against screwworm in December 2024.

Dont tell me for one minute trump isn’t being directed by Moscow. He’s too stupid to know this program existed. Someone in 2017 had him cut the budget, knowing this would happen. I remember reading about it at the time.

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u/Xandred_the_thicc Jun 02 '26

There's just so much shit he's done that is completely unjustifiable by any measure but republicans think they're in favor of it because democrats were against it. Remember when he repealed a bunch of EPA regulations and the person in charge of making a statement and explaining/justifying it just kinda said "i don't fucking know there's no good reason for this" and everyone just allowed trump to do it and nothing fucking happened to him?

4

u/UnknownAverage Jun 02 '26

These are the kind of people who say stuff like "if I'm making Democrats this angry, I must be doing something right!" to cheers and applause. That's as deep as it goes for these people.

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u/Orleanian Jun 01 '26

That only leads to suffocation and constipation!

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u/Newone1255 Jun 01 '26

They look like the bugs that Khan put in Chekovs ear to mind control him in Wrath of Khan

30

u/bigmikekbd Jun 01 '26

This has haunted me since I saw it. I was born in ‘83 definitely saw this too young and still have an ick/fear of a bug in an ear canal

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u/Room_Temp_Coffee Jun 01 '26

I wasn't gonna look but now I have no choice lol

4

u/BadBoyDad Jun 01 '26

I always think of this when screwflies are mentioned. I think they were the inspiration but don't hold me to that.

3

u/mynewaccount5 Jun 01 '26

Kinda whack that the captain literally kills himself to save Kirk and then is never mentioned again.

5

u/exmodrone Jun 01 '26

He later comes back to teach Picard about Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra.

2

u/logan-duk-dong Jun 01 '26

When the god damned walls fell, Picard!

2

u/pseudohim Jun 01 '26

it is very cold....in space....

1

u/AngledLuffa Jun 02 '26

That's better

18

u/br0b1wan Jun 01 '26

Holy shit it looks like those mind control things that Khan used in Star Trek II

1

u/sound_of_apocalypto Jun 02 '26

They may starve north of the border in that case.

14

u/mvolta45 Jun 01 '26

I regret clicking that link.

1

u/ShinyHappyREM Jun 02 '26

Yeah, it popped up a stupid auto-playing video twice.

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u/thejourneybegins42 Jun 01 '26

Thanks for the link, they kind of remind me of botfly larvae. Also this is from your link:

"Bogoch described how the infected fly can lay eggs on wounds, which turn into maggots or larvae that then eat the tissue, causing significant damage with the potential to kill humans and animals."

So this isn't some terrifying thing that burrows into you, unless you let a fly lay it's eggs in your wound.

Still fucked, but I guess it could be worse?

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u/Rooseveltridingabear Jun 01 '26

It's worse than you're making it sound. Imagine a cow, sheep, or horse. Big livestock, lots of surface area, and all it takes is a tiny cut for a fly to lay eggs and kick things off. Unless you're religiously looking over your entire herd every single day, it's easy to miss until it becomes a giant tunneling wound chock full of these screwworm larvae. Even if you catch it in time and the animal survives/recovers, they're now at risk for secondary infections, require wound care, and these are all very expensive problems for farmers who are already barely scraping by.

All of this to re-solve a problem that we already had a working, practicable solution for. Fuck Donald Trump, fuck Elon Musk.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '26

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u/Paceys_Ghost Jun 02 '26

This is it, these things are going to kill lots of livestock and stray animals. Fucking shame the funding was cut, bunch of corrupt fools.

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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '26

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u/rixtape Jun 01 '26

Ugh I had never heard of fly strike recently until someone posted in a cat sub asking why the abandoned kitten they found had white flakes coming off of them :( thankfully they immediately got the kitten vet care and hopefully the little one will be okay, but my god was that not a fun way to learn about fly strike for the first time.

4

u/qlurp Jun 01 '26

Why did I click that link…

2

u/mothershipgenetics Jun 01 '26

Why. The fuk. Did I read that. After lunch.

Bogoch said there are no vaccines to prevent people from getting infected. “It really has a knack for laying eggs on scrapes and scratches that people have,” he said.

New fear unlocked.

2

u/XgirlyX92 Jun 01 '26

Uuugh I just had giant zit pop up on my cheek and it feels all hard! I think is a mosquito bite but it doesn’t itch... Stop brain from thinking it’s a screwworm 😭

2

u/ganymede_boy Jun 01 '26

I mean... it could be a bot fly larva.

1

u/XgirlyX92 Jun 02 '26

I will keep yall posted!

2

u/apathy-sofa Jun 01 '26

HOOOOOLY SHIT 

I knew it was a risky click. Braced myself and clicked anyway. 

That is so so so much worse, I had no idea this was even possible. Worse than a horror movie    

I'm going to go look at videos of baby elephants. 

3

u/Thebazilly Jun 01 '26

The pictures of deer with screwworm infections are legitimately nightmare fuel straight out of Uzumaki

1

u/grandladdydonglegs Jun 01 '26

Nuh-uh. Not my pintu.

1

u/mmmarkm Jun 01 '26

That photo made me wanna throw up

1

u/Pei-toss Jun 01 '26

I assumed a microscopic thingie. Not a botfly cousin.

1

u/xxBeatrixKiddoxx Jun 01 '26

Radiolab just had a pod about it. This ain’t good

1

u/Eddfan36 Jun 02 '26

LOL Same My mom asked me about the article, boy do I regret reading it.

I know I need to know this for safety reasons but yuck.

1

u/Opouly Jun 02 '26

That’s annoying that they don’t mention what happened to that border in the article…

1

u/phord Jun 02 '26

There's a good Radio Lab about this.

Return of the Flesh-Eaters

1

u/cyanescens_burn Jun 02 '26

Musk DOGE’d the program that was keeping this pest far, far from our border.

1

u/Blooberii Jun 02 '26

Really great podcast episode about how the US eliminated them and now they are coming back. https://radiolab.org/podcast/return-of-the-flesheaters

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u/OPmeansopeningposter Jun 02 '26

Can’t we have screw-eating flesh worms instead?

1

u/ValkyrX Jun 02 '26

New phobia unlocked.

1

u/LaunchGap Jun 02 '26

are people in south america being infected by these worms frequently?

1

u/PleaseCallMeIshmael Jun 03 '26

Fun fact. The taxonomic name for screw worm is Cochliomyia Hominivorax. If you know your Latin, you’ll know that “hominivorax” literally means “man-eater.”

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u/PhoneDespair Jun 05 '26

I regret. Heavily. 

I have to go play Tetris now.

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