Yucatán
Mexican state on the Yucatán peninsula.
Yucatán counted 47 human New World screwworm cases and one of the four deaths Mexico has recorded this year, according to health ministry figures reported on 18 September, as national cases rose fivefold on 2025.
Last refreshed: 4 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Timeline for Yucatán
Recorded one of four deaths
Pandemics and Biosecurity: Screwworm cases in Mexico rise fivefoldBackground
Yucatán is a Mexican state on the Yucatán peninsula.
In 2026 it became one of the places where New World screwworm turned deadly for people. The livestock parasite's larvae hatch from fly eggs laid in open wounds and feed on living tissue. Health ministry figures reported by El Universal on 18 September counted 47 human cases in Yucatán and one of Mexico's four deaths this year; the others were in Oaxaca, Querétaro and Veracruz.
The state sits inside a national surge. Nationally the 2026 tally reached 575 human cases by 18 September, roughly five times the full-year 2025 figure of 117, and infestations since April 2025 have touched 692 people across 27 states. Sterile-fly releases had cleared screwworm from Mexico by 1991; a 2023 breach of the barrier zone at Panama's Darién Gap let the fly move north again.
Where is Yucatán?
How many screwworm cases are there in Yucatán?
Where have people died of screwworm in Mexico?
