Maggots Tested in the Treatment of Diabetic Ulcers

The University of Manchester is reporting the results of a study which tests the effectiveness of using maggots to beat up on methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MSRA), a "superbug" that often plagues the ulcers on the feet of those suffering from diabetes. If the method is confirmed as effective and safe, it would provide the first non-invasive and risk-free treatment, and is also safe and cost-effective as compared to the existing antibiotic remedies which are expensive and potentially toxic.

From the press release, "Professor Andrew Boulton and his team used green bottle fly larvae to treat 13 diabetic patients whose foot ulcers were contaminated with MRSA and found all but one were cured within a mean period of three weeks, much quicker than the 28-week duration for the conventional treatment. ... During the treatment period, no adverse reactions were reported and there was a reduction in sloughy necrotic tissue and an increase in healthy, growing tissue on removal of the last larval application."

Maggots were used in the Napoleonic Wars and in the American Civil War after medics noticed those who survived were hosting the larvae in their wounds. The mechanism is simple; the maggots eat out the dead flesh and bacteria and leave the healthy flesh to heal.

As a follow-up study, the researchers plan to compare the "larval treatment" to two other anti-bacterial methods: silver dressings and the biogun treatment, which uses ionized air to create superoxide radicals and eradicate bacteria.