Maggot Therapy - The Smallest Surgeons

For centuries, maggots have been well known for their ability to accelerate the healing of wounds. During warfare, the military doctors observed that the wounds of soldiers that were infested by maggots had a faster recovery rate and the soldiers' chances of death from infection of wounds were much lower than those whose wounds were not infested with maggots. However, after the discovery of the antibiotic penicillin, the Maggot Therapy is outdated due to several reasons. People believe that the use of penicillin to cure wounds is a more hygienic method, and patients find the antibiotic much more acceptable as compared to the use of maggots.

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Many years later, the ideal healing rate of wounds induced by the maggots resulting in the reintroduction of maggot therapy (also known as Maggot Debridement Therapy) in modern medical field. One of the reasons is that the bacteria that causes infections has grown to be immune to antibiotics. The medicinal maggots work in three actions:

1. Remove (by eating) the dead necrotic, infected tissue on the wounds. In order for a wound to heal, it is vital to remove the dead tissue as it will promote the growth of bacteria on the wound and thus resulting in further infections.
2. Disinfect the wounds by killing bacteria. The secretion by the medicinal maggots create a condition that is not suitable for bacteria to strive.
3. The secretions of the maggots also found to have the ability to stimulate the growth of new tissues (human fibroblasts).

After seeing the benefits of maggot therapy, let's have a look at the limitations of it.

Maggot therapy does not work on dry wounds and the wounds on body cavities. For a medicinal maggot to feed, the wounds must be moist, and adequate amount of oxygen is present. Also, many patients may reject the use of live maggots on their wounds. As a result, a dressing is applied to the wounds where the maggots feed to prevent escape and hide the sight of maggots having their meals on the wounds from the patients.