"This is the first human case of travel-associated New World screwworm myiasis (parasitic infestation of fly larvae) from an outbreak-affected country identified in the United States," a spokesperson for the U.S. Health and Human Services told Chron.

Federal and state officials are now monitoring an outbreak that has reached 370 miles from the Texas-Mexico border. Crews are dropping sterile flies across infected zones. If screwworms arrive in Texas, the state’s $15 billion-a-year cattle industry and diverse wildlife in South Texas would be at risk, Kaufman said.

The parasite — the larvae of the new world screwworm fly — can devastate cattle herds and is rife in parts of Central America.