Medicinal Maggots, Leeches and Whipworms
I was just thinking of the time during medical school I had the pleasure of taking care of a man from a nursing home who was brought in after someone noticed the bandages around his foot wriggling. He was diabetic, immobile, and had a large ulcer on his heel. They removed the bandages and found some fat and happy maggots. The great thing though, was that the wound looked great. So I did some looking into the latest news about medical critters, and here is what I found:
Leeches (Hirudo medicinalis)-not that new really, but they have just recently gained FDA approval for use as medical devices. They are mostly used in skin grafts and reattachment surgery. Additionally the anticoagulant produced by the leech to aid their bloodsucking is used in a recombinant form,lepirudin, for heparin induced thrombocytopenia. Sources: Biopharm Leeches, MSNBC, FDA
Maggots-Their use was approved last year by the FDA for treatment of wounds and ulcers as I had noted above. For more info: MSNBC,CNN,
Whipworms- The pig whipworm (Trichuris suis) is being used in medical trials for the treatment of Inflamatory bowel disease such as ulcerative colitis and Chron's disease. The theory behind their proposed effectiveness is that the human immune system has evolved to handle these infections, without them the bowels become overactive. Throughout the world the prevalence of IBD appears to be inversely proprotional to the prevalence of these intestinal parasites. Source:Medical Observer
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5 Comments:
very nice!
Anybody have anything on the pig whipworm?
I did research in undergrad at ASU on maggot therapy. I think they use larvae from the green bottle fly. These larvae only feed on necrotic tissue and leave the healthy granulating tissue alone. It really is amazing how they will clean up a smelly eschar-filled wound. Some of the leaders in maggot therapy believe that the digestive secretions from the larvae may even have antibacterial properties, although I don't think they have been able to isolate a particular chemical/antibiotic. Of course, this was 4-5 years ago when I researched this topic, so I'm sure there have been some advances. I know that the Europeans have been using maggots for chronic wounds for some time. I don't know why the US hasn't embraced maggots any more than they have. I think they're kinda cute.
I found a study that used 4 patients with CD and 3 with UC, they were given a single dose of 2500 live Trichuris suis eggs orally, and then followed every 2 weeks for 12 weeks. Six of seven patients achieved remission. The effect was temporary however, except for patients who continued maintenance therapy every 3 weeks. They showed continued benefit and no adverse effects for greater than 28 weeks. Source:
Trichuris suis seems to be safe and possibly effective in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. American Journal of Gastroenterology, 98(9):2034-41, 2003 Sept.
Make sure you prescribe whipworms and not tapeworms de suis, or you may give your pt. a case of neurocysticercosis.
http://content.nejm.org/content/vol350/issue3/imag.
By the way does it bother you that the physician in charge to this project is from IOWA(the PIG capital of the world)? Sounds like he might be into pig by-products.
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