Maggot Therapy “Use of Fly Larvae for Treatment of Wounds”- A Review

Abstract

Several chronic wounds require alternative therapy in addition to the conventional ones. Maggot therapy (MT) is one of these alternatives. MT is one form of animal-based treatment options known as Biotherapy (medicinal use of live organisms). MT or Maggot debridement therapy (MDT) is the medical use of live maggots for cleaning chronic, non-healing wounds or certain wounds that are not amenable to other forms of therapy. MT is achieved through maggots' secretion of proteolytic enzymes that liquefy the necrotic tissues and then feed on such tissues (wound debridement activity), wound disinfection (antimicrobial) activity and growth-promoting (wound healing) activity. MT has been used for centuries. Occasionally used since the 1930’s and early 1940’s and then in 2004, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved maggots as a medical device that has been prescribed for patients in more than 200 hospitals in the United States. This article presents a review of published articles on the different aspects of MT (mainly the past and current uses, maggots used, how to apply maggots for wound treatments, advantages and disadvantages, problems and adverse reactions and its application in Egypt) that serves as a guide to health professionals who may be users of this form of treatment now and in the future