![]() ![]() These qualities make leaches useful for " bloodletting," a medical practice that removes blood from the body and dates back to ancient times. Leeches are primitive worms ( Hirudo medicinalis) that are equipped with suckers on their front and back ends that let them feed on blood, and teeth that can make a quick, clean cut, Sherman said. "Our culture equates maggots with death, dog doo and stinky garbage," Sherman said. But one hurdle the treatment often needs to overcome is the yuck factor. "Maggots are very good at getting rid of rotting flesh," Sherman told Live Science. Maggot therapy fell out of use in the 1950s with the widespread availability of antibiotics, but has re-emerged in the 21st century with the rise in antimicrobial resistance and hard-to-treat wounds, Sherman said. The hungry critters secrete digestive enzymes that can dissolve the wound's dead and infected tissue, a process known as debridement, Sherman said. Maggot therapy is done by applying the bugs to the surface of a wound and covering it with a dressing for about two days. They also may be used for chronic leg ulcers, post-surgical wounds and acute burns. In 2004, the FDA issued a clearance that allowed maggots to be marketed for medical use on wounds that are slow to heal, such as diabetic foot ulcers and bed sores. ![]() ![]() By 1928, a Johns Hopkins physician developed a way to cultivate medical-grade maggots and make them germ-free before their use in treatment. Military surgeons first observed maggots to be beneficial when injured soldiers who remained on the battlefield were found to heal quicker if flies were allowed to lay eggs in their wounds. The treatment consists of applying live "baby flies," or the fly larvae, to a wound. Ronald Sherman, an internal medicine physician and director of the BioTherapeutics, Education and Research Foundation in Irvine, California, a nonprofit organization that promotes the use of live animals to diagnose and treat illness. (Image credit: valeriiaarnaud/)Ĭompared to other treatments described in this article, maggot therapy is fairly new, having been used for only about 100 years, said Dr. These days, bee venom therapy is more commonly used in Asia, Eastern Europe and South America than in the U.S., where it is considered an alternative medical therapy. OBSIDIAN SCALPEL SO SHARP NO BLEEDING SKINRisks can range from minor skin reactions and pain at the sites of the stings to life-threatening anaphylaxis reactions in people who may be allergic to the venom, according to the study. ![]() Not only is there limited research of its benefits, but the treatment itself may be harmful to some people: A review study by researchers in South Korea published in 2015 in the journal PLOS ONE concluded that people frequently get adverse reactions to bee venom therapy. The reason it may help is because bee venom contains melittin, a chemical thought to have anti-inflammatory properties, according to a 2016 study published in the journal Molecules.Īlthough bee sting therapy is promoted for relieving the pain and swelling of arthritis and for preventing relapses, fatigue and disability in people with multiple sclerosis, there is a lack of scientific evidence of its effectiveness for these two conditions, and it is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for this use. (Apitherapy refers to all medical-related therapies that are based on bee products, including bee venom, honey or pollen.) Brian Stauffer)īee venom therapy - which involves being willingly stung by a live honeybee, or injected with bee venom - dates back to the time of ancient Greece, when Hippocrates purportedly believed in the medicinal value of bee venom to ease arthritis and other joint problems, according to the American Apitherapy Society. New research indicates that individual honey bees differ in personality traits such as novelty-seeking. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |