Maggots to the Rescue!

Previous decades of indiscriminate antibiotic use have resulted in the emergence of bacterial strains that are resistant to just about every class of antibiotic. The worst offender is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which is widespread in both community and hospital environments. It’s particularly troublesome in diabetic foot clinics, where, in one clinic in UK, as many as 40% of organisms isolated from infected diabetic ulcers were MRSA.

A study reported in Diabetic Care describes the action of ‘larval therapy’ in removing dead infected tissue from ulcer, and facilitating healing.  Thirteen consecutive diabetics with MRSA-colonized foot ulcers that had persisted for at least 3 months or longer were enrolled in a small study. Sterile free-range larvae of the green bottle fly (Lucilia sericata) were applied to the ulcers once or twice daily, for 4 days, at a ‘dose’ of about 10 larvae (i.e. maggots) per square centimeter. MRSA colonization was eliminated within 7 to 45 days from all but one of the 13 ulcers after an average of 3 applications. There were no adverse effects.

This study was done in the UK. I imagine someone somewhere is trying to get FDA approval to do a similar clinical trial in the USA. After all, MRSA is a serious problem, worldwide.  Honey is an alternative non-drug approach. I guess one shouldn’t try to use both honey and maggots at the same time, in case the maggots prefer the honey to the bacteria, so neither treatment can work . . .