Lone Star Ticks and Checks
New World Screw Worm meet Alpha-gal syndrome
I’ll be posting a little less in the next six weeks (unless someone else whose work I love dies): I’m in final edits on my next book, of which more soon. In lieu of longer commentary, expect to see a few more guest entries, and a more audiovisual riffs.
Like this one, about two news stories I’m following. First, the New World Screw Worm.
The disease is ugly. Although it’s treatable, it’s not cheap or easy to fix, causes a tremendous amount of suffering, and is set to devastate the Texas cattle herd at a time when it’s facing a super-El Niño.
New World screwworm larvae in a Belgian Shepherd dog/Astridlorena cc-by 3.0
It has been found only in Zavala county in Texas so far, but there’s more to come. There are now four infections, two more than when I started drafting this, and the one in New Mexico is far removed from the first detection in Zavala county.
Meantime, Alpha-gal syndrome — which causes life-threatening reactions to milk and meat for which there is no treatment or vaccination— is spread by the Lone Star tick.
Twiztedminds at https://www.flickr.com/photos/31275091@N03/14422859582 cc-by-2.0
Here’s the map of where Alpha-gal syndrome cases were found 2017-2022.
Geographic distribution of suspected alpha-gal syndrome cases* per 1 million population per year — United States, 2017–2022
Thompson JM, Carpenter A, Kersh GJ, Wachs T, Commins SP, Salzer JS. Geographic Distribution of Suspected Alpha-gal Syndrome Cases — United States, January 2017–December 2022. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2023;72:815–820. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7230a2
Beyond both involving the Lone Star state these are, of course, climate change stories. Which is to say they’re stories about late capitalism.
The flesh-eating New World screwworm was successfully eradicated from the U.S. in 1966. Because the parasite is highly sensitive to the cold and cannot survive freezing soil temperatures, winter was a natural shield. As winters grow milder and the current super-El Niño creates a warm, moisture-heavy corridor through Mexico, the fly's tropical habitat is expanding northward.
The disease may have Mexico through both an expansion of habitat, and cross-border cartel cattle smuggling at the border with Guatemala. Cartels are, after all, a symptom of late capitalism. And it was made likelier to spread north by a 2025 DOGE-sponsored cut of USDA personnel in precisely the department tasked with controlling threats like the New World Screwworm.
The exact same climate dynamic is driving the explosion of Alpha-gal syndrome. The Lone Star tick used to see its population checked by harsh Midwestern and Northeastern winters. Now, thanks to shorter, milder winters and longer tracking seasons, it is thriving in territories where it historically couldn't.
Keep an eye on your pets, stay clear of the high brush, and I’ll see you back here with more updates once I crawl out from under these final book edits.
thanks for pairing these two pathogens together. both are so revealing about our environmental and economic situation. alpha-gal is like something out of a movie: a tick-borne disease that causes people to become allergic to meat, which is one of the prime drivers of the climatic changes that cause ticks to spread in the first place. egads.