UK Medics to Prescribe Maggots as Wound Cleansers

[bicentennial_baby]

LONDON (Reuters) - British doctors will be able to prescribe maggots to NHS patients with infected wounds from Friday onwards, a hospital official said. He said the National Health Service had realized maggots were a cheaper and more beneficial way of treating wounds than using conventional medicine.

Patients would be able to treat themselves at home and avoid the possibility of picking up a hospital infection.

-snip

"But now there is a renewed interest because of the problems caused by the over-use of antibiotics, and the NHS has seen the cost-effectiveness of maggots."


Research at the Princess of Wales Hospital confirmed that placing sterile maggots on wounds could make them heal faster than conventional medicine.


The creatures devour dead, infected tissue and kill off bacteria that could block the healing process without damaging the surrounding tissue, since they cannot ingest healthy flesh.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=571&ncid=751&e=2&u=/nm/20040220/hl_nm/health_maggots_dc

[LynneSin]

1. I'm sorry but NO

I don't care if I need those maggots to save my life.....NO!!!

[Warpy]

19. Maggots are an old healing method for infected wounds

Maggots clean out all the dead and infected tissue without disturbing healthy tissue. The wounds are clean and are easier to heal. However, there is the "ICK!" factor to deal with.

For the really squeamish, studies back in the late 80s found that grinding up the maggots and using them as a paste on the wound did the same thing, only without all the squirming.

As our medical system continues to fall apart for working people and become geared only towards trying to grant the rich immortality, we may have to go back to this "primitive" form of wound treatment.

Don't you love the world the conservatives have created for us?

[proud patriot]

2. Yep !

That's a good survival skill to remember
when antibiotics are not available .

seems gross but it works and works really well .

[Loonman]

3. Well, you gotta stick with what works

If you get a bad gash that you can't close up in the wilderness, let flies land on it so the maggots will eat the dead flesh, and stave off gangrene.

When the pain becomes excruciating or there is heavy bleeding, wash the wound with boiled(not boiling) water and dress with a bandage.

[Kellanved]

4. so what?

Common practise in continental Europe . :shrug:

[bicentennial_baby]

9. Oh I agree

I think it's a great idea, personally.

[liberalnurse]

5. The technique has been used for centuries.

Excellent method for wound debris removal....such as necrotic tissue.

[kmla]

6. OK.....Ewwwwwww!!!!!

[gula]

7. Why not?

They use leeches. Anything to decrease the overuse of drugs.

http://www.leechesusa.com/leechesusa/

[everythingsxen]

8. Wow.. and to think.. I've only known this my entire life!

A shame they don't call me for these research studies. I could have told them this after I read a book about flies in the second grade. In that book it detailed how maggots were used for years as medicinal agents.. how during WW2 they even had sterile maggots *specifically* for medical use.

This is certainly amazing new news... from 50 years ago....

Sheesh..

[Heddi]

10. This has been common forever---even in the US

I recently did an internship at a hospital (I'm a nursing student) and there was a guy there that had some kind of horrible infection in his leg. So much dead, black, unsightly tissue and muscle that the doctors only had 2 options:

1) Amputate the leg from the knee down

or

2) employ the use of maggots to eat away the dead tissue (which was a recurrent cause of inefection) and possibly save his leg in the process.

Sure it's gross, but it's GOOD gross. I found out after I left the hospital that because of the maggots, the guys leg was able to be saved, and he's currently in therapeutic care to restore muscle-strength to the once atrophied and infected leg muscle.

And from what I saw, the nurses came in twice a day, cleaned the site, removed the "elderly" maggots (they mature quickly), and put on new maggots, covered the area with sterile gauze (so they wouldn't crawl around the bed, etc). They did an AMAZING job. The difference they made in the infected and dead tissue was evident in a matter of days.

When I first went in, a good 1/4 of his lower leg was just black and stinky and rotten. By a week later, the leg was pink and healthy and all the necrotized flesh was gone, there was no smell, no leakage, no puss, no infection.

Modern medicine is great, especially when they use ancient techniques that have been working for centuries.

[loftycity]

14. Good post and learning what leeches can do I was

completely amazed. Something that you thought was creepy fish bait.
Can be used in the same way--to get rid of all the dead blood.
I am glad the maggot cure is being revived.

[Heddi]

16. some people have a condition

where they have excess red blood cells in their body and that causes all kinds of problems, so they have to have therapeutic blood removal once or twice a week (or more often, depending on the severity). Sometimes, people can have this done by going into a lab and having a phlebotomist manually remove the blood via a needle in the vein....

but having this done on a regular basis can lead to problems like scarred veins (hard to puncture), or worse--collapsed veins.

SO many people with this condition (the name is escaping me---I want to say it's erythropeitia...but I don't think that's it) use leeches to remove blood, and they either do this at their Dr's office, or at home.

Sure, the leeches leave hickeys, but at least you don't get collapsed or scarred veins from it, and it's not such an invasive procedure.

I love old-time (re: holistic/naturopathic) medicine. My opinion is that these, and many other remedies have worked since man's been on the earth--there's no reason to do away with them just because of 'progress' and not every natural remedy has a modern, synthetic version that does the job just as good

[loftycity]

17. You have that right antibiotics have created a nightmare.

You hear of all these people with strange fungal infections internal and external. The cause is to much intake of antibiotics...now that is is one horrible thing to try and get rid of.

[hippiechick]

11. Don't let Tommy Thompson read this !

Next thing ya know ... HHS will be advocating Hagar the Horrible for Surgeon General and the poor will be left with 12th century medical care instead of anything resembling Medicare/Medicaid ...


:hippie:

[loftycity]

18. They will probably find some bible verse comdemning the use.

They are so nuts. If Ashcrafty can notify everyone calico cats are evil??
Why do we have to put up with these nuts?? Can we send them somewhere where they can all be together and preach to each other?

[pagerbear]

12. I saw something on TLC or TDC

about this sort of thing. Use of maggots and leeches. Consequences when medical care is delayed, as on a battlefield. The body often takes over and keeps you alive. There's a reason the body goes into shock, for instance--in many cases, the depressed heart rate and breathing is beneficial if medical care is delayed.

[Loonman]

13. Correct

However, shock must be treated as any other injury, and just as quickly.

It is possible to die from an extreme state of shock.

[PVnRT]

15. Hey, they eat dead tissue

that would otherwise invite gangrene. I'll take maggots over gangrene any day, as would anyone who has seen what gangrene looks like.

[MiddleRiverRefugee]

20. Call it "bioremediation"...

That's the term used for intoducing one kind bacteria into, say, a sewer system so it'll eat another kind.

[damnraddem]

21. Just wait:

some American pharmaceutical company will want to patent the genetic code of the maggot.

Will the U.S. government move to make maggots a controlled substance?