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eCAM Advance Access originally published online on May 5, 2006
eCAM 2006 3(2):223-227; doi:10.1093/ecam/nel021
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© The Author (2006). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved
The online version of this article has been published under an open access model. Users are entitled to use, reproduce, disseminate, or display the open access version of this article for non-commercial purposes provided that: the original authorship is properly and fully attributed; the Journal and Oxford University Press are attributed as the original place of publication with the correct citation details given; if an article is subsequently reproduced or disseminated not in its entirety but only in part or as a derivative work this must be clearly indicated. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Review

Maggot Therapy: The Science and Implication for CAM Part I—History and Bacterial Resistance

Yamni Nigam1, Alyson Bexfield1,2, Stephen Thomas3 and Norman Arthur Ratcliffe2

1 School of Health Science, University of Wales Swansea Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK, 2 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Wales Swansea Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK, and 3 Biosurgical Research Unit (SMTL), Princess of Wales Hospital Coity Road, Bridgend CF31 1RQ, UK

It is now a universally acknowledged fact that maggot therapy can be used successfully to treat chronic, long-standing, infected wounds, which have previously failed to respond to conventional treatment. Such wounds are typically characterized by the presence of necrotic tissue, underlying infection and poor healing. Maggot therapy employs the use of freshly emerged, sterile larvae of the common green-bottle fly, Phaenicia (Lucilia) sericata, and is a form of artificially induced myiasis in a controlled clinical situation. In this review article, we will discuss the role of maggots and their preparation for clinical use. Maggot therapy has the following three core beneficial effects on a wound: debridement, disinfection and enhanced healing. In part I we explore our current understanding of the mechanisms underlying these effects.

Keywords: Maggot debridement therapy – MRSA – antimicrobial – Lucilia sericata – wounds

For reprints and all correspondence: Yamni Nigam, University of Wales Swansea, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK. E-mail: Y.Nigam{at}swansea.ac.uk


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