As Texas ramps up efforts to stop the spread of a flesh-eating parasite, health officials confirmed Monday the first U.S. case of the New World screwworm (NWS) in a human. The case involved a patient returning from travel in El Salvador,

The CDC confirmation came about a week and a half before the U.S. agriculture secretary said Texas would host a sterile fly facility to slow the screwworm spread.

Federal and state officials are now monitoring an outbreak that has reached 370 miles from the Texas-Mexico border. Crews are dropping sterile flies across infected zones. If screwworms arrive in Texas, the state’s $15 billion-a-year cattle industry and diverse wildlife in South Texas would be at risk, Kaufman said.