Infected wounds and rotting flesh aren't so great for humans, but for maggots, it's a smorgasbord, and hungry maggots just got some good news out of Kenya. Hospitals in the East African country are reintroducing maggot therapy to help rid wounds of dead tissue and reduce the use of expensive antibiotics.
Since antiquity, doctors have been using maggots to help clean out the necrotic, or dead, tissue within a wound -- a process called debridement. The maggots (fly larvae) compete with harmful bacteria and help wounds heal while warding off infection. Maggot therapy is still used in isolation all over the world, but it was largely abandoned with the advent of antibiotics in the 20th century.
Rising medical costs and problems with antibiotic-resistance, however, may have more and more healthcare providers considering their reintroduction. Hospitals in Kenya are some of the first to be doing just that after trials using the disinfected maggots proved successful.
"The results were good; patients who were to stay here for three months and go through surgery while using expensive antibiotics were able to leave hospital in two to three weeks," Dr. Christopher Kibiwot -- a physician at Kenyatta National Hospital, in Nairobi -- recently told BBC News.
Kibiwot said some of his patients are understandably skeptical of the treatment. "But after explaining to them the outcome and that it will reduce their hospital stay by far, they are ready to try anything," he said.
Maggot therapy is already a recognized therapy in 20 countries around the world, including both the United States and the United Kingdom. And now, after the resounding success on the first few trial patients, it looks to become increasingly popular for others in Kenya.