The flesh-eating screwworm that devours cattle and wildlife alive is threatening the US again. Once a major beef production issue has since been largely solved thanks to Knipling and Bushland inventing the Sterile Insect Technique in the 1930’s. New World Screwworm was eradicated from the US in 1966 by releasing sterile males into the wild, ultimately leading to population collapse. That same genius sterilizing blueprint later eradicated the tsetse fly, carrier of sleeping sickness, from Zanzibar in 1997 and other parts of Africa, slashing human cases by 97%. The story begins even earlier with Texas fever, when in 1893 Theo Smith proved ticks transmit Babesia—igniting the vector-borne revolution that made all these victories possible. Three parasites, three insects, three battles to improve humanity and reduce suffering
