The number of screwworm myiasis cases in animals in Campeche has increased from 169 to 214 in less than a month, affecting two municipalities that were disease-free until a month ago, both belonging to the Mayan region: Calkiní and Hopelchén, both bordering Yucatán.
Based on data from the World Organization for Animal Health, only four municipalities in Campeche remain free of the disease so far, with low human populations and low livestock production.
Meanwhile, the state secretary general of the National Peasant Confederation (CNC), Luis Felipe Mora Hernández, urged authorities to close the borders with Guatemala and Belize. There have been at least four animals killed by screwworm myiasis, two in Candelaria and two in Champotón, reported by livestock producers,” said the Cenecista leader.
For its part, the federal Ministry of Health has confirmed only two cases of screwworm myiasis in humans to date: one in Candelaria, in an 86-year-old woman, and another in a 63-year-old man in neighboring Carmen, both with head injuries and various comorbidities due to age.
The municipality with the highest prevalence of the disease continues to be Candelaria, with 69 cases, bordering Belize, followed by Carmen, with 41.
Likewise, Calakmul, which borders Guatemala and Belize (where the first outbreaks were recorded at the end of 2024), has 36 cases; followed by Champotón, with 29; Escárcega, with 27; Palizada, with 6; and Campeche, with 4.
The new development is the small ones. The municipalities of Calkiní and Hopelchén, which border Yucatán, have registered one case in each of the two Campeche towns.
Until last month, all the municipalities with cases of myiasis in cattle were adjacent to each other, but now the municipality of Calkiní only borders Yucatán, a neighboring state where outbreaks have been reported, but no other Campeche municipalities.
The difference is the newly affected municipality, Hopelchén, which, in addition to bordering Yucatán, also borders Calakmul, one of the first to be infected by the epidemic.
Source: OEM
