What's New in Wound Care?
While doctors say more studies are essential, positive results have recently been reported at many randomized controlled trials world wide. Honey seems especially promising as a wound dressing for cancer patients who have weakened immune systems and those patients who have serious, stubborn wounds that refuse anyone with heal.
Manuka honey (some sort of medicinal honey with enhanced antibacterial properties derived from flowers in Australia together with New Zealand) may be used in Iraq with excellent results in a clinic setup by US Armed factors for treating children using burns. It is an ideal, and affordable, first aid dressing, especially in urgent situation situations, such as earthquakes. It's quite suitable for burn treatment, especially in areas where water useful to cool the burn is contaminated. It may even succeed against MRSA. Both the FDA and Health Canada have cleared Manuka honey for an effective agent for use with burns and chronic wounds.
While using honey with wounds may sound somewhat soothing and perhaps even appealing, what could you say about using maggots for any same purpose? Not quite so appetizing, perhaps? Irrespective of your revulsion, maggots are used since ancient times. Healers of a long-vanished era noticed that people whose wounds were infested with maggots actually healed quite as good as the folks whose wounds weren't! This was also duly noted by military surgeons on the battlefield in the days of Napoleon. Therapeutic maggots were used on wounds until the start of antibiotics and modern surgical techniques, around the time of World War II.
Medicinal maggots are generally disinfected, or sterilized larvae with the green bottlefly. They do not reproduce or feed on live tissue. They are bacteria-eaters who secrete a great enzyme that disinfects your wound, debrides (dissolves or even removes dead tissue), together with promotes healing.
So again, (medicinal) maggots are now being used to heal chronic wounds, and seem to succeed against MRSA and other strains of resistant germs. Studies have shown that their use is in addition more cost-effective than standard surgery.
According to Doctor. Ronald Sherman, a pathologist in the University of California-Irvine, "Studies indicate that approximately 40% to 50% of wounds treated with maggot therapy for the reason that last alternative before amputation were healed, and the limbs were saved. ". The practice keeps growing yearly, with over 50 facilities now operating in North america. Now that may not necessarily sound very appealing to you in the beginning, but what sounds far better? A maggot on your wound, or an amputation? Without a doubt, that's what I imagined you'd say!
AH, this lowly leech. By every definition, not a wholesome character. Believe it and not, leeches were once an important part of standard medical practice.