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Are you looking for a supplier of maggots for medical use? The Department of Medical Entomology, Westmead Hospital, can suppy sterile maggots for use in wound treatment. The Department maintains a colony of the blow fly Lucilia sericata (the species most widely used for MDT) and has established a procedure for surface sterilisation of the maggots. Maggots are supplied for minimum cost and can be delivered anywhere in Australia, although a service charge will be added. Please contact the Department for pricing details. Contact details for the supply of MDT: Department of Medical Entomology,
ICPMR Download a factsheet on MDT here |
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Recent Publications
Geary et al (2009) "Maggots down under" Wound Practice and Research. Abstract: Maggot debridement therapy (MDT) is an old form of wound care treatment that was used prior to the introduction of antibiotics. Maggots nurse a wound by the processes of debridement, disinfection, cleansing and healing. In the modern healthcare arena, new innovative methods that are being developed overseas for MDT are proving to be more acceptable to clinicians and patients – many wound care workers that have used MDT for the treatment of some chronic wounds in Australia have said they would recommend this therapy to their colleagues. Read the full paper.
Geary & Russell (2004) "Fly larvae for wound management: A maggot makeover" NSW Public Health Bulletin. Abstract: Maggots certainly have an image problem, but this humble insect—the immature stage of a housefly or blowfly—has much to offer the field of medicine in the 21st century. Maggots of certain fly species feed on necrotic flesh, and through this debriding activity can assist the healing of chronic soft-tissue wounds (such as pressure and venous stasis ulcers, diabetic foot infections, and postoperative wounds) that are resistant to surgical or antibiotic intervention. This article describes Maggot Debridement Therapy (MDT), an old remedy that has been revised and is now proven to be valuable for treating wounds unresponsive to conventional wound management. Read the full paper. Links & Resources Biomonde Suppliers of products for MDT in Europe/UK Maggot Therapy Wikipedia Background & history of MDT Monarch Labs Suppliers of products for MDT in USA Wound Care Information Network Information on MDT |
While maggots
will always have an image problem, they have a lot to offer the field
of medicine in the 21st century. Maggot Debridement Therapy (MDT)
is an old remedy that has been revised and proven to be invaluable
in cleansing non-healing wounds. This simple procedure involves the
placement, using restrictive dressings, of live disinfected maggots
into non-healing wounds to provide for cleansing of necrotic tissue
and initiation of the healing process. For centuries,
maggots (which is the immature stage of a fly) were known to have
beneficial effects on wounds. Ambroise Paré is credited to be the
first to note his observations in 1500's. Throughout military history
many other positive comments have been recorded in regard to maggot
infested wounds by military surgeons that attended wounded soldiers.
However, it wasn't until the 1920's that therapeutic experimentation
with maggots was instigated by William Baer, a clinical professor
in orthopaedic surgery at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore,
Maryland, whose unorthodox methods were successful in the treatment
of osteomyelitis and pyogenic wounds. His methodology of MDT was adopted
and routinely used in over 300 hospitals in the USA throughout the
1930's and early 1940's. Thereafter, with the introduction of penicillin
and other modern surgical procedures, MDT was replaced in the late
1940's. The 1980's brought an increase
of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, and MDT was revisited as a
procedure to assist in the treatment of non-healing wounds that were
recalcitrant to antibiotics and when surgical intervention was not
an option. Dr Ronald Sherman, and associates from the Veterans Affairs
Medical Centre, California, pioneered the reintroduction of MDT. His
clinical trials indicated that MDT was several times more efficient
at debriding infected and gangrenous wounds (and healing them more
rapidly) when compared with other modern non-surgical treatments.
In the last 15 years, thousands of patients with bedsores, leg ulcers,
diabetic foot wounds and post surgical infections have been successfully
treated by MDT. At present, health care facilities in the UK, Europe
and the USA now produce thousands of medicinal maggots per week for
therapists. In the UK alone, MDT has been estimated at saving the
national health system over one billion dollars annually, and is now
recognised as a procedure that can be officially prescribed and claimed
on health care benefits. Mystery still surrounds
the unique way that maggots 'nurse' wounds as they actively consume
dead tissue and fluids. As they cleanse the wound site the maggots
exude an antibacterial agent that has a wide spectrum of activity
against many resistant pathogens. They also possess diverse proteolytic
enzymes, which are capable of digesting bacteria. The mechanical feeding
of the maggots and the reduction of necrotic tissue changes the wound's
environment from an acid to a more alkaline pH, which assists in stimulating
healthy granulated tissue. How to obtain MDT in Australia Persistent requests for sterile maggots from throughout Australia encouraged the Department of Medical Entomology at ICPMR to maintain a colony of the blow fly Lucilia sericata (the species most widely used for MDT) and establish a procedure for surface sterilisation of the maggots. Based on Ronald Sherman's methodology we now supply (with cost recovery) disinfected maggots on request for local, interstate and overseas patients. Contact details for the supply of MDT: Department of Medical Entomology,
ICPMR Note that maggots can be
delivered anywhere, although a service charge will be added. Please
contact the Department for pricing details. Although not all patients
are suited to this therapy, MDT is an efficient, low cost alternative
method to cleanse and promote the healing of chronic soft tissue wounds
before they progress to a stage where amputation is the only alternative.
Although acceptance of MDT is not yet widespread in Australia, perhaps
a new image of maggots is slowly emerging wherein they are an effective
and economic means of treating wounds and saving limbs for patients
in our health system! R.A.Sherman, M.J.R.Hall, S.Thomas. Medicinal Maggots: An Ancient Remedy for some Contemporary Afflictions. Annual Review of Entomology, 2000, 45:55-81. Church, J.C.T., Larva Therapy in Modern Wound Care : A Review. Primary Intention. May: 63-68. 1999. L.M. Vistnes, M.S.RitaLee, G.A.Ksander, Proteolytic activity of blowfly larvae secretions in experimental burns. Surgery, Nov, 1981. Sherman, R.A., Maggot Debridement in Modern Medicine. Infections in Medicine. Sept: 651-656. 1998. Teich, S., & Myers,
R.A.M., Maggot Therapy for Severe Skin Infections. Southern Medical
Journal. Vol. 79, No. 9, 1153-1155, 1986. |
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Produced 12/Jan/2010
