The U.S. outbreak continued to expand modestly this week. Texas now reports 13 Texas counties with confirmed cases and 26 Texas premises with cases, up from 12 counties and 23 premises at our July 6 assessment. The newly added official Texas county is Brewster County, where TAHC issued a July 9 order after NWS was detected in a bovine.
The USDA APHIS public dashboard remains the official place for individual animal case rows, but the static APHIS page does not expose all row-level data. A dashboard-derived tracker updated July 12 reports 35 U.S. animal cases, all domestic animals, across 14 counties in 2 states, with 0 wildlife/feral cases and 0 wild-fly trap detections. I would treat that as useful for mapping and cross-checking, but cite USDA/TAHC as the official authority.
CDC’s human-health status is unchanged: no locally acquired human infestations have been reported in the United States. CDC still directs readers to screwworm.gov for the latest animal case data, because its animal count is lagging.
Newly confirmed U.S. animal cases since July 6
Official written confirmation
| Date confirmed/detected | State | County | Host/species | Status since July 6 | Source |
| July 9, 2026 | Texas | Brewster | Bovine | New county and new case | TAHC order states that NWS was detected in a bovine in Brewster County on July 9 and designated an infested zone with movement restrictions. |
Dashboard-derived / supplemental line-list detail
A dashboard-derived extraction of USDA APHIS data reports three new confirmations after July 6:
| Date confirmed | State | County | Species | Status |
| July 7, 2026 | Texas | Crockett | Cattle | New since July 6 |
| July 9, 2026 | Texas | Brewster | Cattle | New county/case; also supported by TAHC order |
| July 10, 2026 | Texas | Crockett | Goat | New since July 6 |
That same extraction reports 35 total animal cases, 25 active, 14 counties, and 2 states, with the latest confirmation on July 10. Again: useful, but not a substitute for the official USDA dashboard itself.
Current U.S. status
| Area | Current status |
| Texas | TAHC reports 13 Texas counties with cases and 26 Texas premises with cases. |
| New Mexico | One previously known Lea County canine case remains the only New Mexico case I found in the reviewed sources. |
| Other U.S. states | No official domestically acquired animal cases found outside Texas and New Mexico. |
| Humans in U.S. | CDC reports no locally acquired human infestations. |
The dashboard-derived county burden now lists 34 Texas cases and 1 New Mexico case, with Texas county counts: Crockett 11, Edwards 6, Terrell 4, Zavala 3, La Salle 2, and one each in Brewster, Gillespie, Jim Hogg, Medina, Pecos, Sutton, Tom Green, and Uvalde.
By host category, the dashboard-derived line list reports 19 cattle, 10 sheep, 4 goats, and 2 dogs.
U.S. human cases
No change from last week. CDC says:
- No U.S.-acquired human NWS cases have been reported.
- CDC continues to describe the current risk to the U.S. public and animals as very low.
- CDC points to screwworm.gov for the latest U.S. animal case data.
So the U.S. situation remains primarily animal-health / agriculture / veterinary, not a domestic human outbreak.
Texas quarantine and movement restrictions
TAHC now lists movement restrictions in parts of Bandera, Brewster, Coke, Crockett, Edwards, Gillespie, Jim Hogg, Kerr, Kimble, La Salle, Medina, Pecos, Schleicher, Starr, Sutton, Terrell, Tom Green, Uvalde, Val Verde, Webb, Zapata, and Zavala counties. These are infested-zone counties, not all confirmed-case counties.
TAHC states that warm-blooded animals in an infested zone may not move out without prior TAHC authorization. Animals moving outside a zone must be inspected, treated as required, and accompanied by a NWS Movement/Treatment certificate.
USDA’s current-status page still says all southern ports of entry are closed to livestock trade.
Mexico status and trend
Mexico remains a major source of regional pressure, but current exact active-case numbers are still difficult to extract cleanly from static official pages. USDA says its Mexico map is updated Tuesdays and Thursdays, that the list of cases within 100 miles is updated each business day, and that the sterile-insect release polygon is adjusted based on science and modeling. USDA also notes that SENASICA defines a case as active at diagnosis and revisits it after 15 days to determine whether it can be made inactive.
The most concrete current Mexico control update remains the Metapa de Domínguez, Chiapas sterile-fly plant. A SENASICA-linked weekly surveillance PDF says the plant began operating on June 28, is expected to produce 28 million sterile flies per week by mid-July, and is planned to ramp up to 100 million per week by the end of 2026.
Interpretation: Mexico appears to be moving from emergency response toward expanded production capacity, but U.S. risk remains significant because active cases have been reported in northern Mexican states in recent weeks, and USDA is still maintaining border-focused sterile-release adjustments.
Central America / Panama status
COPEG’s public statistics remain at epidemiological week 24, covering data through June 20, 2026. COPEG reports:
- 561 new cases
- 68,665 cumulative cases since the start of the outbreak
- 34 weekly dispersal flights
- Affected species dominated by bovines: 59,118 bovines, plus canines, swine, equines, sheep, goats, humans, and other hosts.
COPEG states that NWS remains in the eradication phase in Panama, with positive cases in all provinces except Guna Yala, and regional cases in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize, and Mexico.
CDC’s broader regional total is higher and more current at the combined Central America/Mexico scale: more than 185,000 animal cases and 2,263 human cases.
USDA/APHIS control actions
USDA’s current-status page emphasizes:
- U.S. confirmed-detection dashboard for animal and wild-fly detections
- immediate reporting of suspicious wounds, maggots, or infestations
- current trade restrictions
- closure of southern livestock ports
- Mexico case-map monitoring
- adaptive sterile-insect release polygons
USDA’s main screwworm.gov page says USDA is leading a coordinated One Health response, has established a dedicated New World Screwworm Directorate within APHIS, and is coordinating with CDC, DOI, and other partners.
TAHC says federal and state partners are conducting animal and fly surveillance, epidemiological investigations, and response protocols, and that sterile-fly dispersal efforts, including ground and aerial releases, are underway in affected areas.
Changes since July 6
The main changes are:
- Texas increased from 12 to 13 confirmed-case counties and from 23 to 26 premises with cases.
- Brewster County was added after a July 9 bovine detection.
- Dashboard-derived data show additional Crockett County activity: a July 7 cattle case and July 10 goat case.
- The dashboard-derived U.S. total increased from 32 cases as of July 3 in last week’s assessment to 35 cases as of July 10.
- CDC human status is unchanged: no locally acquired U.S. human cases.
- USDA/TAHC continue movement controls and sterile-insect response; southern livestock ports remain closed.
Practical implications
For veterinarians, the continued expansion westward/southwestward into Brewster County and persistent activity in Crockett County mean suspicion should remain high across a broad Texas zone, especially for wounds in cattle, sheep, goats, and dogs.
For livestock owners, the same core message remains: inspect wounds, navels, ears, noses, genital areas, castration sites, shearing wounds, dehorning sites, tick-bite wounds, and traumatic injuries closely and often. TAHC specifically advises checking livestock and companion animals for flies, maggots, larvae, eggs, drainage, foul odor, enlargement, and secondary infection.
For pet owners, the two dog cases in the dashboard-derived data—Lea County, New Mexico, and Pecos County, Texas—show that companion animals remain part of the risk picture, especially in or near infested zones.
For public health, the key point is still reassurance with vigilance: no locally acquired U.S. human cases, but travelers and people in affected zones should keep wounds clean and covered and avoid exposure to infested animals. CDC gives travel-related prevention advice on wound care, insect avoidance, and avoiding areas with infested animals.
For entomologists, the dashboard-derived report of 0 wild/feral cases and 0 fly traps with detected NWS flies remains important. Animal cases alone do not answer the establishment question; wild-fly detections would be much stronger evidence of local fly activity.
Uncertainties and discrepancies
The biggest problem remains data-source lag. CDC’s July 3 animal count still says 16 domestically acquired U.S. animal cases, while TAHC now reports 26 Texas premises, and the dashboard-derived extraction reports 35 animal cases. CDC itself points readers to screwworm.gov for the latest animal data, so I would use CDC mainly for human-health status, not the current animal count.
The second uncertainty is USDA dashboard accessibility. APHIS states that its dashboard captures individual animal cases by county, state, animal type/species, confirmation date, and status, but the static page does not expose all row-level data. For formal publication, direct dashboard review remains preferable.
The third uncertainty is current Mexico case counts. USDA points to SENASICA’s dashboard and explains update timing, but current exact numbers were not fully extractable from the static pages I could access. Use exact Mexico active-case figures only after checking SENASICA/USDA dashboards directly.
Map generated by ChatGPT using USDA and CDC data. For full data sources, see the associated article.