A second case of the flesh-eating screwworm parasite was confirmed in Texas by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday, emerging just miles from where the first U.S. detection in decades was reported this week.
The new case in Zavala County was detected on a ranch 5.6 miles (9 km) from the first positive case of screwworm in Texas, which the USDA confirmed on Wednesday.
The infection, which the USDA said was in a one-month-old calf, was reported earlier on Friday by Reuters, citing sources.
The USDA discovered the second infestation "after testing a number of suspect cases," the department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said in a press release.