USDA: Asian Longhorn Beetle Eradicated from Illinois

Taking a break from their classroom, a group of Chicago students recently got a real-life lesson in government cooperation, media, and the serious threat presented by invasive species.

Elementary school children watched as USDA Under Secretary Bruce Knight officially declared the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) eradicated from Illinois.

“This successful eradication would not have been possible without the solid partnership between Federal, State, and local governments fighting ALB in Illinois,” Under Secretary Knight said.

The declaration of eradication follows 4 years of negative survey findings in the 61-square-mile area of Illinois previously considered to be infested. The ALB infestation in Illinois took almost 10 years to eradicate. As many as 1,550 infested trees and 220 non-infested trees were removed—more than 1,200 of them in Ravenswood alone. The last ALB was found in the Oz Park neighborhood of Chicago in 2003.

Screwworm Detection: Veterinarian’s Watchful Eye Makes Big Find

On October 29, 2007, Danielle Munday, a private practice veterinarian in Massachusetts, called Veterinary Services (VS) to report some unusual larvae she had seen while examining a client’s dog recently imported from Singapore. Munday’s watchfulness and her follow-up actions triggered a response that’s an almost textbook example of the cooperative relationship between APHIS and private veterinarians that helps to safeguard U.S. agriculture. Responding to Munday’s call, VS officials collected sample larvae later that same day and promptly sent them to the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) for identification. NVSL entomologist James Mertins soon confirmed that Munday’s alert eyes had detected a case of Old World screwworm, Chrysomya bezziana—quite likely the first report of this particular species of screwworm in the Western Hemisphere. Like the New World species of screwworm that USDA eradicated from the United States in 1966, the Old World species could pose a threat to U.S. livestock if it were introduced and established. Screwworms are destructive parasites that enter the open wounds of host animals. If left untreated, a screwworm infestation can kill a host animal within 7 to 14 days. Fortunately, in this situation, the potential threat was quickly addressed. Munday and VS officials responded without delay, and the dog received appropriate veterinary treatment. The larvae were extracted while still immature; the dog’s lesions healed without complications and with no further evidence of screwworm infestation. Additionally, the local climate conditions at the time were not suitable for the larvae’s survival.