Maggots for wound care

So I was surfing around the internet the other day and I came across something particularly interesting- the use of maggots in wound care. Yup, you heard correctly, maggots! For the squeamish, this seems almost unbelievable, but these little critters are actually in wide spread use- and enhancing patient care.

Wikipedia defines maggot wound care this way:

“Maggot therapy (also known as maggot debridement therapy (MDT), larval therapy, larva therapy, larvae therapy, biodebridement or biosurgery) is a type of biotherapy involving the intentional introduction by a health care practitioner of live, disinfected maggots (fly larvae) raised in special facilities into the non-healing skin and soft tissue wound(s) of a human or other animal for the purposes of selectively cleaning out only the necrotic tissue within a wound (debridement), disinfection, and promotion of wound healing.”

Wikipedia further states that maggot therapy was a relatively common procedure before the advent of antibiotics. Its use was quite widespread by the Maya and Aboriginal tribes in Australia. Furthermore, maggots were also a key player in reducing battlefield mortality during military campaigns as far back as the Napoleonic era.

Modern use dates back to 1929, when Dr. William S. Baer, an orthopedic surgeon used these little critters to treat 21 patients with intractable chronic osteomyelitis The development of antibiotic resistant bacteria served to reintroduce the idea. In 1989 Dr. Ronald Sherman, a physician at UC-Irvine reintroduced maggot therapy by setting up fly breeding facilities that would serve to treat wounds of spinal cord patients whose ulcers had failed to heal after two or more courses of conventional wound care (Read more Wikipedia article)

Take a look at this video (Warning- shows a nasty ulcer and maggot debridement- not for the squeamish)

Links:

• Nurse receives award for maggot therapy in wound care

Please consider these further readings:

• MAGGOT DEBRIDEMENT THERAPY IN THE TREATMENT OF NONHEALING CHRONIC WOUNDS

  A research project by Dodie L. Martin submitted to Witchita State University

• HEALING WOUNDS WITH MAGGOTS: Maggots Can Be Useful for Treating Deep Wounds

  A WebMD Health News article

• Maggot therapy for treating diabetic foot ulcers unresponsive to conventional therapy.

  Article by Sherman RA: Diabetes Care, 2003 Feb; 26(2): 446-51 (PubMed)

• MAGGOT THERAPY: The Role of Maggots in Modern Wound Therapy (PDF Presentation)

  Bio-surgical Research Unit: NHS Copyright 2001.

So, if you have a festering wound… ask your doctor or nurse practitioner about it today!