Anyone tried Maggots?

[spoogyoogy]

The 1980's brought an increase of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, and MDT was revisited as a procedure to assist in the treatment of non-healing wounds that were recalcitrant to antibiotics and when surgical intervention was not an option. Dr Ronald Sherman, and associates from the Veterans Affairs Medical Centre, California, pioneered the reintroduction of MDT. His clinical trials indicated that MDT was several times more efficient at debriding infected and gangrenous wounds (and healing them more rapidly) when compared with other modern non-surgical treatments. In the last 15 years, thousands of patients with bedsores, leg ulcers, diabetic foot wounds and post surgical infections have been successfully treated by MDT. At present, health care facilities in the UK, Europe and the USA now produce thousands of medicinal maggots per week for therapists. In the UK alone, MDT has been estimated at saving the national health system over one billion dollars annually, and is now recognised as a procedure that can be officially prescribed and claimed on health care benefits.

[spoogyoogy]

I am not quite sure what you are saying ...... The maggots used are still larval and never reach a mature stage (they are destroyed after they have done their two day job) and therefore never develop into an adult fly.
The maggots have three principal actions reported in the medical literature:
debride wounds by dissolving only necrotic, infected tissue; disinfect the wound by killing bacteria; and stimulate wound healing and has been shown to accelerate debridement of necrotic wounds and reduce the bacterial load of the wound, leading to earlier healing, reduced wound odor, and lessening the pain. The combination and interactions of these actions make maggots an extremely potent tool in wound care.
Maggot therapy is further compatible with other wound care therapies such as antibiotics, negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT), skin grafting and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
It does sound like a 'curious' treatment but it is quite old at least since Napoleonic times.

[caregiver222]

Yes - they only consume dead tissue.

They don't bite, but they do eventually become flies. And ordinary flies that land on a wound may transmit infection because you don't know where they have been.

They are not a substitute for antibiotics, however. They are useful for debriding deep-tissue wounds.

Years ago a young women came into the ER where I worked with a breast infection and it was crawling with maggots. She had been "self-treating" with this curious treatment..

She recovered well.