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Maggots!

MissMuffett

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,255
Location
Lincolnshire
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Just been listening to Dr Phil Hammond on radio 4extra. He visits hospitals and chats to patients and staff and tells a few jokes. Today he interviewed a chap that had a diabetic ulcer on his ankle , that had gone into the bone and they put maggots on the wound! I’ve heard of leeches being used but not maggots!
 
Maggots have been used since ancient times, and their modern use is not all that recent - I first met someone who'd had maggot therapy on a bad wound about 30 years ago, maybe more. It is brilliant - doesn't hurt, gets rid of necrotic tissue without harming healthy tissue (only a certain type of maggot is used) and is drug-free so no crossover/interference with other meds.
 
They're icky, but they (can potentially) do good work. I think I'd sooner let maggots run free on a wound, than put leeches on, somewhere. Yay for their necrotic tissue targeting systems.
 
I vaguely remember hearing about this type of treatment many years ago - I believe that, yukky as it sounds, maggots have been used this way successfully for centuries.
 
Non-historic reference.
Gladiator with Russell Crowe.
His wound was cleaned with maggots when he was on his way to become a gladiator.
 
This has been on the TV recently, maybe Click, and it is quite civilised. They are bread in a self contained unit and when harvested are somehow incorporated into the dressing and when applying to the patient looks just like any dressing. No loose ones shovelled on with a scoop!

The maggots secrete a fluid that goes through the dressing and disolves the rubbish in the would and the little critters suck it back through the dressing and into their mouths.

After the appropriate time the dressing is removed totally hygenically.

Clever eh?

Anyway back to lunch.....
 
Can we have a 'throwing up' emojii? Yes, it was recognised as a viable tretment for official use in the NHS a few years back, and I believe Click showed a Somerset company supplying these wound dressings to Ukraine last year.
 
When I was nursing, several years ago now, maggots were being used. The maggots are contained in a package very like a tea bag, so no escaping is possible!
 
Maggots were used to clean wounds in wartime and even now after disasters, earthquakes and the like where normal medical treatments are not available they are used to try to save lives.
I think they were confined in a double layer of cheese cloth, tied to make a bag and were carefully counted in and out again.
 
when I had my leg amputated there was a guy in the bed opposite who had just had his leg amputated below the knee, he got an infection and they treated it with maggots from wales I might add and being a taff living in Bonny Scotland I felt a slight attachment lol, as far as I’m aware it’s not uncommon to treat infections with maggots, however I wouldn’t recommend going out to the garden finding a dead “ beast” and getting maggots to help and infected cut lol
P.S i do have a graphic photo of the wound of the guys amputated leg which his wife asked me to take , I decided against posting it … naked maggots sooo bad lol
 
People recoil from the thought of flies because of their habit of laying eggs on animal droppings (although not all diptera make use of dung in this way).

The larvae of Lucilia sericata are specially bred and sterile. These maggots are efficient at removing necrotic matter, while leaving sound tissue intact, so they're perfect for treating chronic diabetic leg and foot ulcers, which may be infected down to the bone with antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The modern version of this centuries-old therapy is being used increasingly in the UK in the fight against antibiotic resistance.
 
The medicinal leech, Hirudo medicinalis, is another example of the use of invertebrates in the treatment of human disease.

Widely employed since ancient times, some forum members seem more familiar with the action of the blood-sucking, medicinal leech than with maggot therapy.

AFAIK, hirudotherapy is currently used to treat subcutaneous blood clots and haemorrhages in a fairly narrow range of clinical applications. It's most commonly encountered in association with soft tissue transplants and free flap reconstructive surgery.
 
Antje77 said:
Are Welsh maggots better than English or Dutch maggots?
Should I ask for Welsh maggots if I'm ever in need of maggot therapy?
Click to expand...
Being biased I say aye , they definitely like to help with leeks hehehe
 
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