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| Latin America |
| Grisly Mexico Factory Breeds Man-Eating Flies |
| 2003-02-26 |
| Edited for brevity. Tucked away in southern Mexico's jungly Chiapas state, scientists work around the clock using radiation and powdered blood to produce one of the area's most cutting-edge exports -- man-eating flies. Named for the corkscrew motion with which they burrow into flesh, the screwworm larvae can kill their victim — human or animal — in five days. The worm's Latin name, cochliomyia hominivorax, means "fly that devours men." "They feed off fresh blood, not dead tissue as other species do. That's why they are extremely dangerous. It's very hard for an animal to defend itself against something like that," said Alfredo Alvarez, a biologist at the plant. One fly can lay up to 400 eggs in a wound. Within 24 hours these hatch into larvae and begin burrowing into the meat. In two days, an open sore in an eye, for example, will turn into a grapefruit-sized festering wound of raw, pulpy flesh. The larvae eat their way toward the victim's vital organs. "If the wound is in the stomach, they'll try to get to the liver or intestines. If it's in the head, they'll attack the eyes, the ears. They can reach the brain and then it's adios," said Alvarez, who is employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. In the 1950s, U.S. scientists pioneered a strange but effective way of eradicating the pests. The flies are zapped with high doses of radiation to sterilize them then released into the wild to mate with their fertile counterparts. The females only mate once, so if they do so with the sterile flies, they will not reproduce. Last month, the plant had its worst accident ever when a radiation machine malfunctioned. Millions of fertile flies were sent into the wild in Mexico and Panama. To date 50 cases of the disease have been found in animals in Panama and 44 in Chiapas. The damage could escalate and take months to repair. "It's a disaster for us. We're on national alert," said Alvarez. "The outbreak gives us an inkling of what could happen if the flies were used as a biological weapon in a terror attack. It could be very dangerous." Looks like we have a new stunt for "Fear Factor". |
| Posted by:Dar Steckelberg |
| #3 "It's a disaster for us. We're on national alert," said Alvarez. So what procedures are established for a national alert for irradiated "Incredible Hulk" Flies? This is bizarre-o. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-02-26 19:12:17 |
| #2 I think I read about these guys in the Book of Revelations... *shivers* |
| Posted by: Just John 2003-02-26 18:54:17 |
| #1 I was wondering what happened to Zach De La Rocha... |
| Posted by: Raj 2003-02-26 09:57:02 |