Reuters

"Given that we need to protect Texas and the U.S., I think it's definitely something that had to be done," Sonja Swiger, an entomologist at Texas A&M University, said on Monday.

Diego von Vacano, a Bolivia expert at Texas A&M University, said Paz needs to announce details within the first few months of his presidency for the global mining community to take him seriously. "Otherwise, investors will say, okay, it's more of the same ... and Bolivia might be seen again as having missed the boat," he said.

Screwworms cannot fly more than 12 miles on their own, but they can cover large distances while burrowed inside their hosts, said Sonja Swiger, entomologist at Texas A&M University. The flies have already passed through the narrowest stretches of land in Panama and Mexico, meaning exponentially more sterile flies need to be released to control the outbreak.