Arizona’s Game and Fish Department wants Arizonans to watch out for a flesh-eating parasite after a recent detection in New Mexico.
Earlier this month, New Mexico reported its second case of the New World screwworm parasite in a horse in Grant County, about 50 miles from the Arizona border.
The parasite, which can burrow into the flesh of warm blooded animals and be deadly, has not been reported in Arizona since it re-entered the United States for the first time in decades this past summer.
But the Arizona Game and Fish Department warns that recent detections of New World screwworm in Texas, New Mexico and northern Mexico pose a risk that the parasite could arrive in Arizona.
Reports of the parasite have been growing in Sonora, the Mexican state south of Arizona. Sonora reports 105 active cases of New World screwworm as of Wednesday, after the parasite first arrived in the state in August.
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In Sonora, mothers comb through the desert to try to find the remains of their missing children, even as Mexican officials say the number of homicides across the country is in decline. -
Some communities remained difficult to access after flooding from Tropical Storm Polo. -
The new sanctions target more than 40 entities and individuals who the U.S. Treasury Department says are aligned with the Mayiza faction of the Sinaloa cartel. -
Tropical Storm Polo left coastal areas in Sonora flooded Tuesday, but left other parts of the state with little rainfall as it began to dissipate. -
The National Hurricane Center predicts the storm will remain a strong hurricane as it moves into mainland Mexico early this week.
