Maggot therapy was thought to have miraculous healing properties, but more extensive testing now questions the claims. They do nothing to speed up healing or reduce MRSA infections in leg ulcers.
Leg ulcers are a pain for those who suffer from them, and to make things worse, they are very difficult to treat and heal. According to the
BBC, only half of the ulcers are healed after 16 weeks of treatment with high-compression bandages.
When maggot therapy, also known as larval therapy, was touted as good option, the medical community was excited and started to apply it without asking too many questions.
Maggots were supposed to be so effective because they devour dead tissue, thus leaving cleaner wounds. They were also thought to get rid of MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, a so-called super-bug) and to somehow speed up the healing process.
It now appears that the claims were probably exaggerated. They had only been tested in a single randomised controlled trial involving 12 patients. In other words, this study had hardly any value at all. All effects could easily be explained by statistical errors.
A new study has now been done with 270 leg ulcer patients from around the UK. They were treated with maggots, or with hydrogel. Their evolution was followed for up to a year. The results are sobering.
There was no significant time difference between hydrogel and maggot therapy. The maggots were no more effective at reducing MRSA and other bacteria and to add insult to injury, they caused more pain. To top it all off, maggot therapy is quite a bit harder to apply than hydrogel therapy.
In other words: maggot therapy is useless. Or is it? Professor Nicky Cullum, deputy head of health sciences at the University of York and the leader of the study says that there is one use where maggot therapy could be beneficial:
"It comes down to the aim of treatment. If for some reason rapid debridement is important, then you would choose larval therapy - for example if someone was having a skin graft."
The conclusion is nevertheless positive. While this study is a major disappointment because it squashed the high hopes of the medical community, medical knowledge has been advanced, and maggots have now been shown to be useful, albeit in a small number of specific cases.
