Screw Worms and Importing Pets into the US

Officially the USDA requires all dogs being imported from countries affected by screw worms to have a statement on the Health Certificate stating the dog has been examined for screw worms and have been found free. This must be done within 5 days of entry as opposed to the usual 10.

This applies to dogs coming in from the following countries:

AFRICA-Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, S. Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, Zimbabwe 

ASIA- Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Macau, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Viet Nam 

CENTRAL AMERICA/CARIBBEAN- Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago

MIDDLE EAST-Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates

PACIFIC ISLANDS- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paracel Islands, Philippines, Singapore, Spratly Islands


SOUTH AMERICA -Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Easter Islands, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Uruguay, Venezuela

Here is the kicker. So far as we know this is only being enforced in Atlanta, GA. Also, the USDA does not have an official quarantine facility for dogs. Consequently, all that happens is that Customs will refuse to clear the dog until the owner can get him checked by a vet. Also screw worms apparently only affect dogs so there is no such requirements for incoming felines.