The US Department of Agriculture is fighting fire with fire. Literally. They are releasing sterile flies to break the screwworm's life cycle.
And deploying trained dogs to sniff out infected livestock. This is the New World screwworm. It burrows into living flesh.
Can kill an adult cow in a week. Britain's own biosecurity team is watching closely. They have shared containment protocols.
Whitehall sources tell me the risk of an outbreak here is low, but not zero. The real fear? Climate change.
Warmer temperatures could let the screwworm establish in southern Europe. Then our borders get tested. The UK has a contingency plan.
It involves rapid culling and movement controls. But this US strategy is more elegant. Sterile insect technique.
It has worked before. Eradicated the screwworm from North America in the 1960s. Now it is back in the Florida Keys.
The dogs are a new twist. They can detect screwworm larvae before wounds are visible. This buys time.
Whitehall is impressed. But the question is funding. The UK's biosecurity budget is stretched.
A single incursion could cost millions. The PM is being briefed today. I am told the Cabinet Office is 'monitoring'.
Internal DEFRA emails I have seen show officials are 'urgently reviewing' the US data. The game is: can we keep it out?
