And while health does its best to keep up, the number of cases of screwworm infestation in Belize continues to grow steadily. But there are likely many more cases than in livestock than are being reported to the Ministry of Agriculture. This may be to avoid quarantine. Yesterday, Minister Jose Mai explained why it's important to report every case.
Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture
"We had a number of new cases in Orange Walk so we're just under 400 I believe it is. But it is growing and it is expected to grow. We also believe that some cases are not being reported and so education plays a very key role here. The question people ask is, why would I report it? Why would I hold a dog down and take worms out of it, why not let the dog die? But it's important to report it accurately because we have trading partners, we are a member of the region and we have to update them on how many cases we have so we need to do the difficult work of reporting every case, taking sample, and confirming it is."
