A new
prescription for health care has been approved in the UK:
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.
Although using maggots to treat disease seems rather unpleasant, it is not a new idea:
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."
This type of treatment is actually called Maggot Debridement Therapy. Here is how it works:
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.
And what would such a post be without a link to some lovely
pictures and one more relevant quote:
I think that you will agree with these patients that the thought of maggots, and the appearance of maggots is not as upsetting as the thought and the appearance and the smell of their own gangrenous flesh.
