US is now scrambling to use aerial bombs of sterilized flies to halt the spread.
  • JayleneSlide@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 months ago

    Holy. Fuck. I grew up on a farm. I’ve seen some shit; that just comes with the territory when livestock, heavy equipment, and farm implements are involved. Fly strike alone will have you napalming flying insects.

    That video of the myiasis infection in the dude’s nose… <shiver>. Clive Barker wishes he could make horror like that.

    • masterofn001@lemmy.ca
      0·
      2 months ago

      +1 for Clive barker reference.

      The man is a master of creating disturbing and viscerally disgusting images with words. (He’s my fav author)

      To say it’s something even beyond him… I can’t begin to imagine how horrific it could be.

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 months ago

    Probably another area where the government will save money to finance more millionaires tax breaks.

  • exu@feditown.comEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    I immediately knew the author of this piece. If you ever need a dose of revulsion and nausea, I highly recommend any of Beth Mole’s articles on parasites, worms and other nightmares.

    • AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.netEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      See, this is a thing that I do not want (and have not even read the article in the linked post due to this). However, I gotta say that your recommendation has me intrigued (over recent years, I have been trying to be more mindful of who is writing the various bits of non-fiction that I enjoy (especially journalists), so your mentioning this person’s name sticks out to me)

  • ComicalMayhem@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 months ago

    tl;Dr

    screwworms are a species of fly that lays eggs in open wounds or orifices, after which the larvae will feed on the hatching site, typically causing more screwworms to lay eggs. they were mostly eradicated via releasing millions of irradiated, sterile males into their population, a thing we still do every month, but for whatever reason, they broke through the biological barrier keeping them back and have made it all the way to Mexico.

    the infection of eggs and larvae is incredibly painful and horrifying, and while humans are much less likely to be affected, the agriculture sector will take an enormous hit to their livestocks if it keeps spreading.

  • Dogyote@slrpnk.net
    0·
    2 months ago

    So they were pushed back to South America once, why can’t they be pushed back again? How’d they get past Panama if there’s a sterile fly production/release facility there?

  • thingAmaBob@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 months ago

    This makes me glad that I immediately hunt down any fly I find in my home until it is dead. I had a sudden fly infestation years ago and have never been lazy about even just one fly in my home since.

    • GoodLuckToFriends@lemmy.todayEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      It is the reason I have one of those electric swatters. The fuckers get near my sink, I just start lazily waving the swatter over the area and get them all.

      • paperazzi@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 months ago

        Since you’re doing this in your kitchen, it may behoove you to know that the zippers actually explode the flies into bits, which will then obviously be dispersed all over your kitchen counters, dishes, food, etc. Just a thought.

  • Wahots@pawb.social
    0·
    2 months ago

    Good thing we only have the best and brightest leading the health department and USDA right now.