Maggot Therapy: A Handbook of Maggot-Assisted Wound Healing

Impressive Results for Slow-healing WoundsAn Ancient Treatment - RediscoveredFly larvae have been used for centuries to successfully treat wounds. However, once penicillin was discovered, and antibiotic therapy became common worldwide, maggot therapy was forgotten. But now that bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to modern antibiotics, maggot therapy is experiencing a resurgence.Maggots Promote HealingFly larvae can debride and help heal chronic wounds in a form of "biosurgery." As strange as it sounds, maggot therapy is often a patient's last chance to prevent amputation of a limb. The results of maggot therapy have been impressive in treating diabetic foot ulcers, slow-healing wounds resulting from circulatory problems, and pressure sores in bed-bound patients: over a majority of these wounds - many of them in existence for years - heal without pain or side effects.Everything You Need to Know About Maggot TherapyThis text contains extensive, reader-friendly information on maggot therapy. There is an overview of the pertinent fly species, a history of maggot therapy, and information on maggots' mode of action and application. In addition to detailed descriptions of the clinical problems for which maggots can be used, there are case studies and questions and answers from medical practice.

Ronald Sherman is an infectious disease specialist and researcher at the University of California. Martin Grassberger is a physician and biologist at the University of Vienna, Austria. Wilhelm Fleischmann is a university lecturer and head physician at the Department of Trauma and Reconstructive Surgery of the Bietigheim Hospital, Germany.