Currently, 100 million radiation-blasted, flesh-eating “Cochliomyia” flies are descending onto Panama’s rainforests to carry out an unstoppable massacre. A wall of flesh that shields a whole continent is being rebuilt by their small bodies. This conflict, which has been going on for more than 50 years, is among humanity’s most successful. fought from Libya’s dunes to Central America. Alright, so what’s happening?
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The Unbeatable Flesh Eating Fly “Cochliomyia “
For a moment, we must discuss one of the world’s most terrible parasites. We won’t make it too disgusting, so don’t worry. Go to the next chapter if you wish to skip this section. The name Cochliomyia hominivorax roughly translates to “the man eater.” At home in the Americas is the New World screwworm fly.
Because they feasted on the flesh of a warm-blooded animal, each of these metallic blue-green flies with vivid red eyes that are seen in nature is here. Over great distances, Cochliomyia can smell blood and identify wounds. Female screwworm flies will attempt to lay their eggs in even the smallest scratch on a person, deer, or squirrel. The worms begin consuming healthy flesh with their keen mandibles as soon as they hatch.
Making terrible wounds and drawing additional flies. The animal will either die or be seriously weakened in severe circumstances. Cochliomyia is a natural enemy of ours and adds nothing good to the earth. This parasite was just a terrible reality of life in the Americas for the majority of recorded history. Then we unintentionally made their utopia. Screwworms became a disastrous issue and a cause of unending pain for our helpless cattle as farmers brought millions and millions of cows to the huge expanses of the southern United States.
Numerous animals in the wild could suffer terrible, long-lasting deaths as a result of a single epidemic that wipes out herds. Because you couldn’t harm an animal’s flesh, traditional insecticides were ineffective against cochliomyia. You couldn’t stop flies from finding wounds or animals from getting hurt. Cochliomyia was winning, and the situation appeared bleak. Ranchers had to spend endless hours inspecting their herds, tending to injuries, attempting to shield infants, and helplessly witnessing the suffering of their animals. Then, in the 1950s, two scientists came up with a concept that was initially too crazy to be taken seriously: what if we kind of nuke the screwworms?
Radioactive Parasite Factories
One of the main weaknesses of screwworm flies is that female cochliomyia can repeatedly produce up to 400 eggs. However, they only mate once before passing away at the ripe old age of three weeks. What if we could interfere with the mating process in some way? What if we could introduce a large number of sterile male flies into the environment? The ladies would squander their one and only opportunity to procreate on unproductive guys. Theoretically, a whole species may mate itself to extinction. However, how can millions of flies be sterilized without killing them or rendering them incapable of competing for mates?
As it happened, the timing for this was very ideal. Researchers examining the effects of radiation have found that certain doses can harm reproductive cells without affecting the rest of an organism. Therefore, all we had to do was determine the cochliomyia dose, produce millions of flies, expose them to radiation, and disperse them over thousands of square kilometers. Imagine describing this concept to a person in 1950. For people to respond, “Okay, sure, let’s try this, why not,” consider the extent of the harm and suffering that Cochliomyia caused.
Scientists transported millions of flies to the isolated island of Curacao and constructed a screwworm paradise in Florida to demonstrate that this may be successful. Animal blood, milk, eggs, and ground beef and horse flesh were arranged on long trays. At regular intervals, thousands were bred, exposed to radiation, and released back into the wild. As the weeks and months went by, an increasing number of the island’s Cochliomyia became infertile and mated with ordinary ones. Slowly at first, then all of a sudden, they were gone. totally eliminated.
It was time to think more expansively. A war was declared over the ensuing decades, and worm factories were set up to produce billions of them. To produce 150 million flies every week, a single plant in Texas alone required 70 tons of meat and 12,000 gallons of blood.
They had to think they were inside a living animal, therefore the repulsive mixture needed to be kept warm. At first, airlines refused to transport the insects because of this beautiful process, which made them smell so terrible. To get them on airplanes, their transport boxes needed to be doused with fragrance. The campaign gradually eliminated screwworms in a slow-moving wave of biological warfare. Originally from Florida, it traveled via Texas, Mexico, and Central America. Thousands of workers’ steadfast dedication and the enormous coordination of billions of sterile flies were needed for each phase. Humanity’s triumph over the horrors of nature was astounding.
When the conflict unexpectedly spread over the world in 1988, screwworms first made their way to Africa. The stakes were enormous: if the flesh-eating Cochliomyia were not halted right once, they may spread over the coast of North Africa, down the Nile valley, and into areas with little to no access to healthcare. There was incalculable potential suffering. A massive operation was launched right away to halt this invasion. They flew in hundreds of millions of sterile flies. Millions of animals were examined by ground personnel for injuries.
Screwworms initially appeared in Africa in 1988 when the conflict unexpectedly spread over the world. The stakes were high: if the flesh-eating Cochliomyia were not immediately stopped, they may spread along North Africa’s coast, down the Nile valley, and into places with little to no access to medical care. The potential anguish was immeasurable. Immediately, a huge operation was started to stop this invasion. Hundreds of millions of sterile flies flew with them. Ground staff checked millions of animals for wounds.
The US and Mexico agreed to pay for a wall of flesh in the tiny nation of Panama, which is the narrowest area of the continent. It would make it impossible for screwworms to ever return to the north. An unending supply of sterile flies is produced by a nuclear worm factory located deep in Panama that operates around the clock, seven days a week.
In place of ground meat, a brown sludge created from powdered blood, milk, and eggs is piped into trays piled in rooms that are maintained at precisely the same temperature as living tissue. This technology has advanced significantly since the early days. After that, thousands of flies are meticulously exposed to precise radiation doses, resulting in Cochliomyia that appear normal on the outside but are internally dead. Every week, 100 million flies are put into revolving dispersal devices and released mid-air in a precisely calibrated balance of altitude, speed, and drop rate. In a coordinated aerial ballet, the flight paths are spaced exactly 1.6 kilometers apart, forming an imperceptible wall of sterile flies.
In order to assess animals for injuries and keep an eye out for any indications of screwworm activity, surveillance teams traverse some of the most difficult and isolated terrain. Unfortunately, the battle against Cochliomyia is far from ended, and the wall is currently collapsing.
Cochliomyia Strikes Back
Cochliomyia unexpectedly returned to the Florida Keys in 2016, transforming the idyllic area into a nightmare. Suddenly, key deer with open wounds were strolling around. In order to create a front around the outbreak and restart the eradication, millions of sterile flies were hurried in from Panama. The invasion was at least contained in a matter of months. And when the Panamanian wall collapsed in late 2023, Cochliomyia retaliated right away. It quickly spread throughout Panama and Costa Rica like a parasitic inferno. burning all the way to Mexico and across Central America.
The worm factory is currently producing as many sterile worms as possible; this is a true biological emergency, and it is unclear when it will end. We may be able to defeat this terrible monster one day; we have done so in the past, and other parasites have been completely or nearly completely removed from most of the world. Therefore, if you find yourself in Central America and see a low-flying plane overhead, it’s possible that you are witnessing another day in one of the strangest wars in human history—a conflict that we cannot afford to lose.
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