Hugh MartinIN MARCH 2002, this
column dealt with the Ministry of Agriculture's National Screwworm Eradication Programme which at the time was running for about three years.
Slightly behind schedule, it was estimated to have taken care of about 90 per cent of the screwworm population and the expectation was that the job would be completed by the end of that year.
Well, when I checked earlier this week with the veterinary services division, the executing agency, the programme was still in progress with no clear end in sight.
It seems that the snags that delayed completion three years ago had multiplied and an Iraq-like situation has developed.
Just in case some readers are not familiar with the insect in question and its importance to the country I'll give a brief description of the problem.
The screwworm is the larva or maggot of what is known as the New World Screwworm fly. The biological name (Latin) is Cochliomyia hominivorax, which literally means 'eater of man'.
This is because the larvae feed only on the flesh of living warm-blooded animals, including man.
ALARMING SITUATION
This pest, in the adult (fly) form, has the remarkable ability to zero in on any unclean or untreated wound, lay its eggs, which hatch out in a few days and the resulting maggots begin to eat away at the tissues.
Untreated, the infestation can lead to death. At best, it reduces the animal's productivity
considerably.
Looking much like a common housefly but somewhat greenish in colour this insect lives in the bushes waiting for the slightest hint of a wound on a warm-blooded animal. Instinctively, it finds this wound and deposits its eggs in it.
Within hours, no more than twelve, these eggs hatch out and the maggots begin to eat, burrowing deeper and deeper into the flesh of the animal.
If untreated, they will
continue eating for about seven days then fall out and bury themselves in the ground where, for the next seven days, they undergo the changes that transform them into the adult fly.
Two days after emerging mating takes place and the females are ready to repeat the process.
What is most alarming is the fact that there are many cases of humans in Jamaica being infested by this pest, especially among the homeless and those of unsound mind.
It is estimated that the screwworm has been costing the country on average five to seven million dollars annually through the loss of livestock and the cost of treatment for infected animals.
This does not include the incalculable cost involved in the treatment of the thousands of pets, especially dogs, which become infected each year during the mating season.
In 1998, the Jamaican Government secured the support of the USDA, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the American/Mexican Commission on Screwworm Eradication to begin the National Screwworm Eradication Programme.
The method chosen was the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) which involves the release of millions of sterilised male screwworm flies over a period of up to three years.
Bred in
special facilities in Mexico, these flies are much more aggressive than their counterparts in the wild and when released tend to beat them at the mating game.
The result being, of course, that the females will be depositing unfertilised eggs and the population will be reduced over a period of time.
DELAYING SNAGS
There was rapid and
satisfactory success in the early part of the programme until a number of unfortunate developments stultified the efforts of the eradication teams.
Dr. Osbil Watson, chief field officer with the project, identified the strike at the sterile fly
laboratory in Mexico which went on for a considerable length of time as one of the major events.
Another was the occurrence of hurricanes which created conditions unfavourable to the dispersal of the insects either by air or ground releases.
But what seems to be the most frustrating of all is the apparent non-cooperation of a large number of citizens, especially those with dogs, who fail to treat these animals when they are injured or to report the injuries to the veterinary and extension officers.
This is almost unbelievable when it is realised that the programme provides screwworm powder free of cost to any one with an infected animal.
Dr. Watson is confident that if everyone co-operates the insect would be totally eradicated within months.
But, unfortunately, I have to end in the same way I did in my 2002 column with what turns out to be prophetic words: "If those who stand to benefit in the long run do not share the
concern, then it is doomed to be a long, drawn out and unnecessarily costly undertaking."
Hugh Martin is a
communication specialist
and farm broadcaster.
