British doctors to prescribe maggots

[Casshew]

Patients in Britain suffering from infected wounds will be able to take home a pot of maggots as part of a scheme that allows doctors to prescribe them for treatment.

Local doctors around Britain, known as general practitioners or GPs, will now be able to offer patients a prescription of maggots to help heal wounds and avoid lengthy stays in hospital.

The scheme was launched after pioneering research at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend in south Wales showed that sterile maggots can heal wounds faster than conventional medicine.

The idea is not a new one, in the First World War victims recovered from no man's land were said to have had maggots put on their wounds to devour the bacteria.

But from Friday, nurses will for the first time go to patients' homes and apply them to the wound, sealing them into the infection with a dressing, leaving the maggots to feed on the dead tissue.

After three days, the maggots, who leave healthy tissue alone, are removed from the wound and reapplied if necessary.


Story from ABC News

 

[sansoucie]

You know I had read about the use of maggots years ago. It's a dang nasty idea, but I bet it really does work without all of the problems some "modern" treatments have.
Good article.

 

[maketoast]

This is like the same thing with the Leeches. They are NASTY..but according to doctors, if applied at the right places, they have been know to heal. It may sound odd now, but more and more doctors are using this.

 

[Hugh]

I bet they are tough to swallow !!.
Actually Naval surgeons knew years ago that maggots would clean up a wound and they wre regularly used on ships in the 17th and 18th centuries.