Armed Forces Pest Management Board

05/20/2026

Tick submissions to SUNY Upstate's testing lab increased 145% between 2024 and 2025, with experts predicting an early and heavy tick season. Over 1 in 3 ticks tested carry disease. A reminder to check yourself and your gear after outdoor activity.

A big jump in ticks sent to Upstate’s lab—and the unusual rise of lone star, dog ticks—signals expanding risks for residents across the Northeast

05/15/2026

Integrated Pest and Pollinator Management (IPPM) is vital for biodiversity, but implementation remains difficult. For military entomologists, this highlights the gap between conservation and mission-critical vector control.

IPPM offers solutions to manage pests while protecting pollinators, but it remains more of a guiding principle than an operational framework.

05/14/2026

📢 Hiring: Research Entomologist
Join the USDA-ARS in Kerrville, TX! Focus on high-priority research for New World screwworm, ticks, and biting flies affecting livestock and wildlife.

📍 Kerrville, TX
💰 $89K - $192K
📅 Closes June 10, 2026

Apply here: https://www.usajobs.gov/job/868235100/preview -duties

05/12/2026

USDA has applied to register NovoFly, a genetically engineered biopesticide targeting New World screwworm, for use in a wide-area sterile insect program to prevent the pest from spreading northward from Mexico into the U.S. Comments due April 27.

This document announces the Agency's receipt of and solicits comment on an application from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to register a new pesticide product containing an unregistered pesticide, NovoFly male- only genetically engineered (GE) New World screwworm (NWS) in...

05/11/2026

The FY26 Tick-Borne Disease Research Program is funding innovative research to prevent, detect, and resolve Lyme disease and other tick-borne conditions for service members, veterans, their families, and the public.

https://cdmrp.health.mil/tbdrp/default

05/06/2026

USDA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers broke ground on a new sterile fly production facility at Moore Air Base, TX, advancing domestic Sterile Insect Technique capacity against New World Screwworm. Target: 100M flies/week by Nov 2027, scaling to 300M/week.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

05/05/2026

New research in Nature Communications maps how ticks regulate their salivary glands during blood feeding. Scientists identified compounds that can block this process, opening a promising path toward targeted tick control.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-saliva-lyme.html

04/14/2026

During Justified Accord 2026 in East Africa, US Army microbiologists conducted bio-surveillance on mosquitoes, ticks, and sand flies collected across exercise locations to identify pathogens that could threaten deployed forces.

Source:

U.S. Army Maj. Luis Pow Sang, a microbiologist with Walter Reed Army Institute of Research - Africa, performs a nucleic acid extraction and polymerase chain reaction test to identify potential biological threats within the specimens located across Justified Accord 2026 locations by testing mosquitos...

04/13/2026

New World screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivorax) has spread north through Mexico to within miles of the Texas border. USDA sterile insect technique facilities are being refurbished to restart producing sterile flies by summer 2026 to counter the outbreak.

The New World screwworm parasite can infest livestock, pets and even humans.

04/03/2026

CDC updated ArboNET, the national arbovirus surveillance system with 2026 data on dengue, West Nile, and other vector-borne diseases tracked across U.S. states and territories as mosquito season approaches.

ArboNET is the national arbovirus surveillance system managed by CDC and health departments.