Remind me never to get a bad skin infection when traveling to London. My skin itches just reading the article...



LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Starting this month, British doctors will be able to prescribe maggots to patients with infected wounds, a hospital official said.

He said the state National Health Service had realized that 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.

Maggots have been used for centuries to rid wounds of decaying flesh, but after the discovery of antibiotics their use went into decline.

"People didn't like the thought of creepy-crawlies on their skin," said Tony Fowler, customer services manager at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, Wales.

"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 surrounding tissue, since they cannot ingest healthy flesh.

Previously, patients could obtain sterile maggots only from certain hospitals and research centers.

*#^%$


No... just... no...

reminds me of that guy with the maggots in his head.. just..

*crawls under her blanket*

Well. I'm gonna disagree I'm afraid .....I reckon it's a great idea !!!

When it comes to the crunch, If I was given the option of possibly losing a limb or having a few wriggly little critters bandaged into my wound I know what I'd opt for

Geez, it's not as if they bite or anything

I agree with both of you, its sickening to think about , but they work

Well I have to say I'm pro maggot myself and also all for the use of leeches when reducing swelling too..

With all the high cost of medical care, the doctors decided to use maggots to treat decaying flesh and not cut the rotting flesh themselves. That is not right. Don't maggots carry germs?

Hey, whatever works.

Eww... but.. oh.. it works. But hopefully I don't have to use it at any point of my life.

Nature knows what is best for her children....

I'd go with Maggots of Leeches to if it meant saving a arm or something, beside we humans have millions of things living on our bodies, so a few more can't hurt

Ughhh...I know this stuff works, but I get an industrial strength case of the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it.

Link
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Think of these wriggly little creatures not as, well, gross, but as miniature surgeons: Maggots are making a medical comeback, cleaning out wounds that just won't heal.


Wound-care clinics around the United States are giving maggots a try on some of their sickest patients after high-tech treatments fail.

It's a therapy quietly championed since the early 1990s by a California physician who's earned the nickname Dr. Maggot. But Dr. Ronald Sherman's maggots are getting more attention since, in January, they became the first live animals to win Food and Drug Administration approval -- as a medical device to clean out wounds.

A medical device? They remove the dead tissue that impedes healing "mechanically," FDA determined. It's called chewing.

But maggots do more than that, says Sherman, who raises the tiny, wormlike fly larvae in a laboratory at the University of California, Irvine. His research shows that in the mere two to three days they live in a wound, maggots also produce substances that kill bacteria and stimulate growth of healthy tissue.

Still, "it takes work to convince people" -- including hospital administrators -- that "maggots do work very well," said Dr. Robert Kirsner, who directs the University of Miami Cedars Wound Center.

"They'll probably be easier to use now that they're FDA-approved, and we'll talk about it more and think about it more," Kirsner said. He estimates he uses maggots in about one in 50 patients where conventional therapy alone isn't enough.

This has been quite a year for wormlike critters. In June, FDA also gave its seal of approval to leeches, those bloodsuckers that help plastic surgeons save severed body parts by removing pooled blood and restoring circulation. And in the spring, University of Iowa researchers reported early evidence that drinking whipworm eggs, which causes a temporary, harmless infection, might soothe inflammatory bowel disease by diverting the overactive immune reaction that causes it.

yeah i remember seeing on a program tat leeches were making a comeback in medicine aswell, its all a bit old school for my liking, i mean get some new medical treatments and stop recycling old ones...

i can't ever imagine having maggots on me, ewwwwww

eww!!! thats just nasty im sorry lol thats soo grosss!! no maggots or leeches on my skin thank you every much lol

Ewww Yuck!!


I can't even imagine allowing someone to use a maggot on me

Hmmm.

ok, it looks like only i found it funny, i apologise, please ignore my comment...

No problem

Saw an episode of Body Snatchers few nites ago, a doctor is using tiny parasitic worms to cure a patient of allergy. The woman's stomach been hurting itself since its allergic to its own fluids, and the worm in the gastric tract actually supress the allergy in the host. Before we become cyborgs, we will be wormborg first.