BioMonde supplies greenbottle larvae for treatment of non-squeamish patients across Europe

Hundreds of UK health service hospitals as well as clinics in Germany are using maggots to clean chronic wounds such as diabetic leg ulcers and speed up the healing process – reviving a centuries-old tradition practised by Maya tribes in Central America and Indigenous Australians.

During the first world war, the US doctor William Baer realised wounds with maggots in them healed much faster than those without. He started growing larvae on a hospital windowsill to treat patients with osteomyelitis, a bone inflammation.

By the end of the 1930s, 300 hospitals in the US and Canada were using maggots, but their use declined with the arrival of penicillin and other antibiotics, only to be rediscovered in the 1990s amid growing antibiotic resistance.

Hospitals have been using maggots to debride dead flesh from wounds and leeches to prevent blood clots and keep blood flowing freely

If it works it works, who gives a shit if people are squeamish.

The following submission statement was provided by /u/filosoful:

BioMonde supplies greenbottle larvae for treatment of non-squeamish patients across Europe

Hundreds of UK health service hospitals as well as clinics in Germany are using maggots to clean chronic wounds such as diabetic leg ulcers and speed up the healing process – reviving a centuries-old tradition practised by Maya tribes in Central America and Indigenous Australians.

During the first world war, the US doctor William Baer realised wounds with maggots in them healed much faster than those without. He started growing larvae on a hospital windowsill to treat patients with osteomyelitis, a bone inflammation.

By the end of the 1930s, 300 hospitals in the US and Canada were using maggots, but their use declined with the arrival of penicillin and other antibiotics, only to be rediscovered in the 1990s amid growing antibiotic resistance.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10isgjl/people_are_shocked_the_welsh_firm_breeding/j5g5qr9/

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I don't even need a hospital. They've been growing out of me for years.

My thoughts exactly. I'm squeamish about being cut open too but if you need to look under the hood knock me out and go for it

I listened to a radio program on the subject, not only remove the dead tissue but they have something anti inflammatory in their saliva which prevents infections taking hold.

Are you a zombie?

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Who is shocked? This has been a thing for decades.

Probably one of those Darktide enemies where you hit them and maggots explode out of them.

I don’t know why maggots aren’t a large part of the beauty industry. Gross? Very much. But they can probably clean the dead skin off your feet much more gently and thoroughly than any pro.

And most importantly, they remove only dead tissue. Even the world’s best surgeon with the best equipment would have to cut away chunks of healthy tissue to make sure they’d got it all, but these guys can minimise the “collateral damage”, reducing the need for skin grafts to close the wound.

There are fish for that, it's popular in many Asian countries.

Oooh! Girl, you know I would put these maggot enzymes on my face to exfoliate it!

Wait till they learn what we still use Leeches for.

The weird part is something they excrete encourages faster healing... like... what...???

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My great grandpa had a buddy who served in WW2 in the Pacific. My GG was not able to serve himself due to health problems, as I understand it. But his friend saw some pretty insane action, including but not limited to literally getting part of his cheek blown off by a stray bullet. He was in shock, sort of panicked and played dead, and just laid on the beach for hours and hours in the sun hoping he would survive the ordeal. The exposed flesh started to fester, flies gathered on his face, but he didn't move. Maggots happened, but he was too scared to wipe them off. When the Japanese were going around stabbing bodies to make sure they were dead, the soldier that came to him ignored him because of the maggots crawling all over his face. Obviously anyone in that condition was deceased. Dude passed him over, when night came, he got up and managed to meet up with some other Americans. The maggots had actually eaten away most of the infected flesh, keeping the infection from spreading too badly. Once he got home he relayed the story to my GG who told it to my grandpa who told it to me. Still think about it from time to time, the strength of will needed to just lay there and let maggots eat your face so you can make it home.

Tl;Dr: My great grandpa knew a dude who served in the Pacific who got wounded and played dead to survive. Maggots got in the wound and ended up saving his life by making him look realistically dead and also eating away a lot of the rancid meat.

Longer I believe...clickbait title

Stupid article. Maggots have been an accepted treatment in western medicine for necrotic tissue like diabetes and burn victims for decades (centuries of you want to go past modern medicine). The key is these medical grade maggots are bred in an incredibly sterile environment. They’re not just leaving the window open and letting a bunch of garbage flies have at it

Dude, I saw medical maggots used on patients like 15 years ago on TV. I'm pretty sure the discovery channel had it on back when they actually showed educational television haha.

Is it futurology if we've been doing it for centuries?

Doesn't that make people's toenails come off?

Old practice in animal husbandry. Back in the 40s my grandpa was a farmer and he would use maggots to clean wounds on his cattle.

They can’t be sanitized so they were quickly banned in most states. Not sure if you can find them in any state now.

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In the article: Shocked how well it works.

Not because it's such an odd thing to do.

It's not super common, but the maggots are so much more delicate when cleaning a wound than surgical options. They don't damage what healthy tissue remains so it can grow and close the wound faster. And some of those wounds are so horrifying the maggots look downright cute in comparison.

Their digestive enzymes only dissolve dead cells and bacteria. Whatever live tissue is left within the wound finally gets a chance to grow. Surgically cleaning a wound always damages healthy tissue too, the wound is bigger than it was before. Hopefully it's also clean afterwards so it can heal, but maggots are more precise at it.

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We’re been doing this for millennia; how is this new?

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Back when I was fighting to conquer the last of the Germanic barbarians, I was betrayed and wounded in the shoulder. I woke up later in the hands of slavers and discovered maggots happily munching away at my decaying flesh. I later used that same arm to exact my revenge! 10/10 would use maggots again!

But the people in the photos are wearing labcoats. Must be cutting edge.

Hey now let's not be hasty here.

Nurgle's Pox Walkers smell way better than that guy.

My parents were medical providers and they told me about using leeches. That was in the 1990s.

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Maggots have been used for centuries to heal flesh wounds because they eat dead flesh which of left untreated an cause gangrene and lead to amputated limbs or death

for decades if not centuries

They still use them. Especially in surgical fields when you do a reconstruction with a flap to decrease the amount of venous congestion (blood pooling up). When they are done eating you throw them into a bucket of alcohol and they explode.