Kaufman applauds Miller’s efforts to find alternative ways to control screwworm, but says some of the data don’t necessarily support the success of the bait traps. “The [scientific] papers paint a picture that it’s highly effective, but as a scientist reading the experiments, I can poke holes in almost everything they did,” he says. For example, he says there was a cold snap between the two bait programs that might have explained the reduction in the fly population. Still, he says, that doesn’t negate the effectiveness of using traps, but he cautions against over-reading the results. Dass says it would be relatively straightforward to get an answer on how the combined approach compares to the sterile fly-release approach alone, using computer modeling, which could guide future approaches to outbreaks. “Texas or the USDA could run models and play with scenarios to come to a consensus about what makes sense scientifically,” she says. “You could map out if you release over an area this large, during an outbreak with this many foci, what if you did this, then that, or what if you did things together. You could have a war-room scenario to map things out, all while you collect real-world evidence.”
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