Tyrone Reid, Enterprise Reporter

A field officer removes samples from a screw worm-infested puppy in this 2006 Gleaner photo. - File

AFTER 10 years and almost $2 billion expended on a national eradication pro-gramme, screw worm maggots remain a niggling problem that threatens national health by infesting thousands of animals and humans annually.

Screw worm analysts have revealed that babies are also among the victims of infestation.

"Even babies are turning up with screw worm ... we do have several cases that have been reported," Dr Osbil Watson, director of the National Screw Worm Eradication Programme and the Veterinary Services Division in the Ministry of Agriculture, told The Gleaner on Tuesday.

More billion-dollar spends

The national programme should have ended three years after it commenced in 1998 at a cost of $324 million. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the eradication exercise, and the Government plans to pump millions more into the project. The 2008/09 Estimates of Expenditure showed that the Eradication of New World Screw Worm Project was allocated $354 million, which should push the cumulative total spent on the project to $2.1 billion.

Donovan Stanberry, permanent secretary in the agriculture ministry, said the allocated funds are earmarked for eradication by the end of this year, and also to facilitate a six-month monitoring period.

In addition to pointing out that screw worms are a "difficult problem to track", Stanberry said the initial scope and, by extension, funds allotted to the project, were insufficient. He also said the quality of the flies procured from overseas to fight the spread of screw worm infestation, and disruption in their release, are some other factors that have thwarted the success of the programme.

Process of eradication

The project seeks to eradicate the New World screw worm, an insect which causes destructive myiasis (infestation of tissue) in warm-blooded animals and humans. Eradication is expected to be achieved through the utilisation of the sterile insect technique, supported by prevention, control and quarantine measures, which should result in increased food production.

The Budget estimates also showed that as at December 2007, external assistance received for the programme amounted to approxi-mately $24.9 million.

Government's failure to eradicate the vermin gives credence to predictions made by local veterinarians, that the pest could cause a public health disaster.

Watson told The Gleaner that health practitioners from hospitals, clinics and health centres across the island have been calling on his team for assistance in dealing with cases of human infestation.

Serious repercussions

"We do get a lot of these calls from time to time for assistance," he said.

In addition to children being infected, Watson revealed that indigents and patients recovering from surgery in hospitals are among those being infested with the screw worm maggots.

"Cases have been reported from several hospitals ... It is not clear if it was picked up there or they went in for treatment," said Watson.

The veterinary division official concluded that the current state of affairs poses serious repercussions.

"It has strong implications for animal and human health in terms of the trauma that is caused by these maggots eating into (their) flesh. The cases can be very nasty. It is not a pleasant situation."

Statistics provided by Watson revealed that prior to 2004, the annual average was around 3,000 reported cases of infestation in both humans and animals, with the latter representing the lion's share of the occurrences.

Threat remains

Between 2004 and 2007, the annual average declined to 2,000 cases per annum, he said.

"Cases are trending down, but the threat of infestation in humans remains, because of the fact that we have not yet eradicated (screw worms)," he said.

However, last year there were more than 3,600 reported cases. More than 3,550 of the infestations were animals, while there were 68 reported cases of human infestations.

In 2008, there have been 482 reported cases of screw worm maggot infestation, 20 of them relating to humans.

Since 1998 when the eradication programme started, the country has recorded more than 25,000 reported cases of screw worm maggot infestation in humans and animals.