Health officials confirmed the first human case in the U.S. of the flesh-eating parasite New World screwworm that has been rapidly spreading among cattle in Mexico and Central America.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told multiple outlets in a statement that the case was discovered earlier this month in a patient in Maryland.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Maryland Department of Health both confirmed the case to be New World screwworm.

The individual had recently been to El Salvador, so health officials said it is a travel-related case, and the public health risk in the U.S. is very low.

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Fly larvae of New World screwworm infest the tissue or flesh of warm-blooded a

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