Health Care : Current Reviews

Abstract

Advances in Myiasis Treatment

Nigam Y

Abstract

The maggots of the green bottle fly, Lucilia Sericata, have been crawling around the world for about two hundred million years. Following the evolution of man, a relationship developed between these maggots and the wounds of man. An acceptable sort of myiasis was born. In the last decade, the level of evidence recording successful outcomes of clinically applied, artificially induced myiasis on wounds using this medicinal maggot, has expanded greatly. And as modern and advanced technology helps science to unlock more doors, we are able to gain a clearer picture of the molecules and biochemical pathways by which maggots exert their effects; studies which hopefully will enrich our understanding of the clinical effects observed. The following commentary précises such new developments and summarises our current thinking on maggot / larval therapy.