Maggots in quick-cure for MRSA

Published: May 9, 2007 | 6181st good news item since 2003

DIABETIC patients with the superbug MRSA are having foot ulcers treated with . . . maggots.

Professor Andrew Boulton and his team at Manchester University have been using green bottle fly larvae to treat 13 diabetic patients whose foot ulcers were contaminated with MRSA. Results showed that all 13 patients were cured within three weeks – much faster than conventional treatments, which take up 28 weeks.

Diabetes UK has now given the team £98,000 to carry out further research.

Professor Boulton said: “Maggots are the world’s smallest surgeons.

“They remove dead tissue and bacteria, leaving the healthy tissue to heal.

“Still, we were very surprised to see such a good result for MRSA. There is no reason this can’t be applied to many other areas of the body.”

Published in Science & Technology
See also: www.thisislancashire.co.uk