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DOGE cut 20% of APHIS the agency that protects U.S. agriculture and now the screwworm parasite that wipes out livestock has returned to the U.S (mander.xyz)

submitted 16 hours ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] Paradachshund@lemmy.today 12 points 13 hours ago

When something is eradicated, but comes back, how does that work? Was it only eradicated because of ongoing efforts from this agency?

[-] Canonical_Warlock@lemmy.dbzer0.com 39 points 13 hours ago

Basically. We had previously driven the screw worm south of the darian gap and we had been keeping it there by continuously dropping sterile flys across the region to prevent them from breeding. But the mitigation measures were cut to save money so now we're back to having screw worm in the US.

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

And to generalize it more, pests and diseases are rarely truly eradicated, that's part of why smallpox is so notable, the virus only exists in laboratory settings anymore (and that's partly because it's a predominantly human disease). Usually eradication means in an area or in people in an area. Because of that it's usually an active effort to keep it out. Measles was eliminated in the developed world, but it was still around, it was just kept at bay by mass vaccination. As vaccination rates fell it was able to come back through interactions with places it hadn't been eliminated.

[-] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 17 points 12 hours ago

This comment needs to be at the top. This was an intentional choice made in the first trump administration to just…stop doing the cheap thing that had been working for a generation. Now the exact expected outcome has come to fruition.

[-] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 3 points 9 hours ago

the new world screworm was eradicated in NA up until 2023, when the program ended due to covid disrupting things.

[-] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 11 points 13 hours ago

It was stuck in South America, and eradicated from North America, with the Darian Gap as the barrier IIRC.

But it’s been spreading north since like 2023. There’s been a kind of inescapable dread that it would come to the US eventually, but it happened faster than was expected.