Screw worm outbreak in Yemen(he IAEA can do right away Mr. Feldman s...)

The disease is curable if treated early. The animals wound is scraped clean of maggots then insecticides are applied to kill any remaining eggs.

Its thought the pest was introduced into Yemen after infected cattle were imported from neighbouring countries.

"This insect pest is not restricting itself to one country, flies have no passports, they just cross over -- we have to develop a regional approach. That is the second part of what the FAO/IAEA can provide, to develop a concept, assist the developing counties with strategies and policies to address this problem in the longer term. But this needs to be a regional approach where other countries, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and possibly Iran, Oman and so forth need to be included," Mr. Feldman said.

Part of a possible long term approach, involves scientists and farmers teaming together to fight the flies using the screw worm against itself. Its called the sterile insect technique. Essentially, its birth control for flies. Millions of male screw worm flies are bred and sterilised with radiation, then released into the wild. The technique has worked to eradicate screw worm in North and Central America and in Libya.

"Libya in 1988 had an outbreak of new-world screw worm flies through a shipment of live animals to North Africa, to Libya, the pest was also exported. So a non-endemic, very dangerous pest was introduced. And at that time, the international community also initiated an emergency response because it was very dangerous to see the fly spreading. If it would have arrived at the Nile Delta, it would have been the highway to Africa with all wildlife endangered and so forth. The international community responded very quickly and within four years, in 1992, the pest was eradicated," Mr. Feldmann said.

According to Mr. Feldmann, the feasibility of approaches like the Sterile Insect Technique needs to be assessed to fight pest di
'/>"/>