Screwworm eradication program in Central America

The Screwworm Eradication Program has been extremely successful in its efforts to achieve its goal of eradication of screwworms through Central America and establishement of a permanent biological barrier in the eastern half of Panama. Following eradication of screwworms from Mexico in 1991, eradication was achieved in Belize in 1992, in Guatemala in 1993, and in El Salvador in 1994. Honduras has been free of screwworms since Janaury 1995, and the number of cases in Nicaragua has dropped, as of April 1995, to about 4 percent of the average number of cases found during the period June-August 1993. (AU)