Creepy, yet calming. Maggots' excretions soothe inflamed wounds, speeding healing.
Credit: Cory Doctorow
Posted on 12/06/2012 9:07:50 PM PST by neverdem
Yes, maggots are creepy, crawly, and slimy. But that slime is a remarkable healing balm, used by battlefield surgeons for centuries to close wounds. Now, researchers say they've figured out how the fly larvae work their magic: They suppress our immune system.
Maggots are efficient consumers of dead tissue. They munch on rotting flesh, leaving healthy tissue practically unscathed. Physicians in Napoleon's army used the larvae to clean wounds. In World War I, American surgeon William Baer noticed that soldiers with maggot-infested gashes didn't have the expected infection or swelling seen in other patients. The rise of penicillin in the 1940s made clinical maggots less useful, but they bounced back in the 1990s when antibiotic-resistant bacteria created a new demand for alternative treatments. In 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved maggot therapy as a prescription treatment.
Although anecdotal reports suggested that maggots curb inflammation, no one had scientifically tested the idea. So a team led by surgical resident Gwendolyn Cazander of Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands siphoned samples of maggot secretions from disinfected maggots in the lab and added them to donated blood samples from four healthy adults. The researchers then measured the levels of so-called complement proteins, which are involved in the body's inflammatory response.
Every blood sample treated with maggot secretions showed lower levels of complement proteins than did control samples—99.9% less in the best case, the team reports in the current issue of Wound Repair and Regeneration. Looking closer, the researchers found the broken-down remnants of two complement proteins—C3 and C4—in the secretion-treated samples, suggesting that the secretions had ripped the proteins apart. When the team tested blood samples from postoperative patients, whose wounded bodies were already scrambling to heal, they found that maggot secretions reduced the levels of complement proteins by 19% to 55%.
For good measure, the team tested the maggot secretions again after a day, a week, and a month to determine their shelf life. They also boiled some. To their surprise, the secretions were more effective after boiling and lost no potency after sitting on the shelf for a month.
It's not surprising that maggot secretions would suppress the immune system, Cazander says. Otherwise, the larvae would probably be attacked by the body. She says she hasn't yet seen such a reaction, even in patients treated with maggots for more than a year.
Cazander's team is now working to isolate the complement-inhibiting compounds. A clinical drug featuring maggot secretions may be several years away—but if you can't wait, the maggots themselves are available now.
The research team's conclusions are spot-on, says Ronald Sherman, pathologist, pioneering maggot researcher, and board chair of the BioTherapeutics, Education and Research Foundation in Irvine, California. Sherman's nonprofit foundation connects patients with doctors willing to handle the crawly critters. Faster wound healing probably arises from several combined maggot effects, he says, such as increasing oxygen concentrations in the wound and enhancing cellular growth. "This research advances our understanding of how and why maggot therapy helps wounds heal faster."
I feel the say way. I am glad that maggots are available but if I ever need them, I’d have to be sedated until they finish their work.
You might want to know that there is remarkably little evidence that H2O2 does any good, although it also appears it doesn't hurt anything.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/456300_3
sorry typo..... say = same
No need. The flies will find you and lay eggs......
Winter would be a problem.
Nope. Did some wound care in the past as part of a Hyperbaric Medicine practice, local Plastic surgeon would use them. The beauty of the maggots is they only consume necrotic, dead tissue. Leave a lovely pink granular wound base behind..
Started as an ER orderly in the 70’s. had a street person come in with a dirty dressing on his leg. Cut it off and it EXPLODED with maggots. Nurse proceeded to hurl. Bit that was one of the cleanest ulcers. I’ve ever seen....
Maggot can also do surgery.
From my understanding, the results are miraculous and they only eat the “dead” tissue so it isn’t like they are consuming you alive. I still opt for la la land... who knows? With the right meds, I may end up naming them. “Oh, is Leroy finished already? Look at Julia go!” (LOL!)
After all, they can work while you have a cup of coffee (provided you have any coffee).
The human body does a remarkable job of healing itself, given a chance, and the removal of the necrotic tissue (and, hopefully, whatever is causing the tissue to become necrotic), just might provide the chance in rough surroundings to get more capable reconstruction done later.
Even that option in the future might be worth it, provided the alternative is amputation or death from sepsis.
“My US Army Survival Guide from way back when lists maggot therapy as a useful method to cleanse a wound of dead flesh.”
Yup, just allow the flies to lay their eggs and let nature do it’s job.
One thing to beware of, however: I had a bottle in my vehicle which froze (this is North Dakota), and some of the H2O2 leaked and got on my finger (at a much higher concentration than 3%).
That was decidedly unpleasant and is something to be avoided.
Clean With Hydrogen Peroxide or Alcohol? FALSE
Using hydrogen peroxide or rubbing alcohol to clean an injury can actually harm the tissue and delay healing. The best way to clean a minor wound is with cool running water and mild soap. Rinse the wound for at least five minutes to remove dirt, debris, and bacteria. Wounds that are large, deep, or bleeding nonstop should be treated by a professional.
http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/wound-care-10/slideshow-wound-care-dos-and-donts
Thanks for the ping.
High concentrations of H2O2 can be really nasty. Hope you weren’t too badly hurt.
This article was recommended tome, and it questions the bacteriacidal benefits in vivo, but claims there may be some benefit in cleaning the wound. Medscape
You’re welcome, GOPJ!
I lost some skin. I had the presence of mind to realize what was happening and dragged the affected fingers through a snowdrift to dilute the H2O2. (Remembering at the same time that it was used as an oxidizer for rocket fuel...)
But it didn’t get infected!
This would work, at most, until the maggots ran out of dead tissue. At that point they would get less picky. Wouldn’t you, if you were a starving maggot?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.