Maggots Rid Patients Of Antibiotic-resistant Infection, MRSA

Once again nature provides.

clipped from www.sciencedaily.com Maggots rid diabetic patient of an antibiotic-resistant infection, methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Manchester) ScienceDaily (May 5, 2007) — University of Manchester researchers are ridding diabetic patients of the superbug MRSA - by treating their foot ulcers with maggots. Professor Andrew Boulton and his team used green bottle fly larvae to treat 13 diabetic patients whose foot ulcers were contaminated with MRSA and found all but one were cured within a mean period of three weeks, much quicker than the 28-week duration for the conventional treatment. Professor Boulton, who published the results in the journal Diabetes Care, has now been awarded a £98,000 grant by Diabetes UK to carry out a randomized controlled trial to compare this treatment with two others. "Maggots are the world's smallest surgeons. In fact they are better than surgeons - they are much cheaper and work 24 hours a day," Professor Boulton jokingly said.