Leonardo Blair, Enterprise ReporterIT STARTED at a cost of $324 million in 2001. But five years later, after more than a billion dollars have been spent, eradicating screw worms from Jamaica is proving to be a mammoth task amid a whirlwind of administrative chaos.
If Government officials do not do something about it now, say local veterinarians, the problem could quickly become a public health disaster.
The trouble is, however, nobody really knows the extent of the national problem - not even the National Screw Worm Eradication Programme which was mandated to eradicate the deadly worms by 2001. The programme was reportedly adrift for several years and officials in the Ministry of Agriculture are just now ready to give it another look.
DESTRUCTIVE INFESTATION
Known in the scientific community as Cochliomyia Hominivorax, 'eater of man,' screw worms cause destructive infestation through larvae deposited by screw worm flies in open wounds or other openings in warm-blooded animals including humans and can cause death. At least one person was reported to have died from screw worm infestation in 1999. In the last eight years, say screw worm officials, there have been 1,000 reported human cases but, mostly, the victims have been dogs, more than 50 per cent of them since the start of the screw worm programme eight years ago. It was estimated in 1999 that more than $277 million is lost each year by Jamaican farmers on account of the deadly worms.
