Screw worm prevention and treatment with the only stablehocl patent pending

Why StableHOCL™ Should Be Used

StableHOCL™ gives animal-care teams a cleaner, safer, and more practical way to support wound care, especially when wounds are at risk of fly strike, contamination, odor, and secondary infection. Screwworm larvae attack open wounds and damaged tissue, so the first priority is always rapid inspection, cleaning, removal of larvae by trained personnel, veterinary treatment, and continued protection of the wound site.

StableHOCL™ fits directly into that need because it is a stabilized hypochlorous acid platform designed for consistent wound-cleansing support without the harshness of many traditional chemical disinfectants. It can help clean the wound environment, reduce organic contamination, support better daily wound hygiene, and make repeated application easier for ranchers, veterinarians, and animal handlers.

The major difference is stability. Ordinary HOCl products often lose strength quickly as pH drifts and available chlorine declines. StableHOCL™ is built to hold its chemistry longer, so the user is not relying on a short-life product that may no longer perform as expected. For animal care, that matters: consistency, safety, and ease of use are critical when treating livestock, horses, and companion animals in the field.

StableHOCL™ should be positioned as a daily wound-care, cleaning, and protection tool used alongside veterinary diagnosis, approved screwworm treatment protocols, and proper fly-control measures. Its value is simple: cleaner wounds, safer handling, more consistent chemistry, and better support for animals at risk.

If live screwworm larvae are placed in a controlled test container and exposed to StableHOCL™︎ at 500 ppm, several biological effects are expected to occur. While the precise results must be confirmed through controlled laboratory testing—which is currently underway—the known chemistry of stabilized hypochlorous acid provides a strong scientific basis for evaluating its potential.

StableHOCL™︎ is a stabilized hypochlorous acid formulation with a demonstrated 24-month shelf life, made possible through proprietary chemical engineering patent pending. This stability makes it uniquely suited for large-scale manufacturing, distribution, storage, and field deployment, overcoming the short shelf-life limitations of conventional HOCl solutions.

When applied directly to screwworm larvae, StableHOCL™︎ is expected to exert its effects through multiple oxidative mechanisms, including:

• Damaging cellular membranes.
• Oxidizing essential proteins and enzymes.
• Disrupting normal cellular respiration and metabolic processes.
• Destroying bacteria present on the surface of the larvae and within contaminated wounds.
• Damaging the larval cuticle (outer protective layer), potentially compromising its ability to survive.

Controlled testing will determine the degree of larval immobilization, mortality, and wound improvement, providing quantitative data to support future veterinary and livestock treatment protocols.

As written, this avoids overstating efficacy while clearly separating established properties of hypochlorous acid from outcomes that still require experimental confirmation.

At 500 ppm StableHOCL™︎:

Immediate Contact (seconds to minutes)

• Larvae would become agitated.
• Movement would likely increase briefly as a stress response
• Short-Term Exposure (minutes)
  
• Surface tissues could begin to show damage.
• The larvae may become sluggish and lose coordinated movement
• Extended Wet Contact (tens of minutes to hours)
• Significant mortality would be expected.
• The degree of kill would depend on:
  • Complete wetting of the larvae
  • Contact time
  • Organic matter present
  • Temperature
  • Actual free available chlorine concentration

Killing screwworms is different from killing bacteria.

A 500 ppm HOCl solution may kill bacteria in seconds, but insects and larvae are multicellular organisms with protective outer structures. They will generally require:

• Higher doses,
• Longer contact times,
• Or direct tissue exposure.

For screwworm management, StableHOCL™︎ may potentially provide greater benefit by:

• Disinfecting the wound
• Reducing bacterial infection
• Reducing odor that attracts flies
• Lowering microbial load around the wound
• Potentially creating an environment less favorable for larval survival rather than acting solely as a conventional insecticide.

In developing our screwworm protocol, I would compare:

Treatment Observation PeriodWater Control24 hrs -StableHOCL™︎ 200 ppm24 hrs StableHOCL™︎ 500 ppm24 hrs-S tableHOCL™︎ 1000 ppm24 hrs- StableHOCL™︎ 2000 ppm24 hrs

and record:

• Time to immobilization
• Time to death
• Percentage mortality
• Changes in larval appearance
• Effect on wound tissue

My expectation is that 500 ppm StableHOCL™︎ would cause substantial stress and mortality to exposed screwworm larvae, but controlled testing would be needed to determine whether it provides rapid kill or requires prolonged contact.

Dr. Martin Bruce Ekster