Why the US Drops 14.7 Million Worms On Panama Every Week

Half as Interesting1 HN recommender · recommended in 1 month, 2024–2025

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explainer · general · 2024–2025 on HN

A Half as Interesting explainer on the US program that drops millions of sterile screwworm flies over Panama every week to keep the parasite out of North America.

Cited in screwworm threads as a short description of the sterile-insect barrier system that worked for decades.

3 comments from Hacker News

@colechristensen2025-08 · in “Mexico to US livestock trade halted due to screwworm spread”

Here's a video describing the system that fell apart which had been working for a long time to keep these flies out of north america ▶ this video

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@anitil2024-10 · in “Egypt declared malaria-free after 100-year effort”

I believe now they use sterile mosquito larva to achieve the same now [0], though it's from a youtube video so I'm not sure how much to trust it. [0] ▶ this video

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@positr0n2024-09 · in “The Ultra-Selfish Gene”

Wow bummer, do you have a good link about that? Screw worms are controlled very successfully this way, although they are sterilized via radiation not genetic modification. I wonder if that makes a difference. Sorry to ask you for a link and use a YouTube video as my source but it's the best I got right now: ▶ this video

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