Maggots being used as medical devices

A lesser known treatment type which uses maggots has been applied in India for diabetic patients according to the New Indian Express.

The treatment is a type of biotherapy and involves applying live, disinfected maggots on soft tissue wounds. The maggots then eat the dead tissue in the wound and disinfect it. The more common method of cleaning dead tissue in a wound is surgical debridement.

Maggot therapy is mentioned in the Charaka Samhita, an ancient Sanskrit text that is one the foundational texts for the Indian holistic healing system, Ayurveda.

The treatment may sound gruesome but maggots have been approved as a medical device in the US by the Food and Drug Administration.

Dr BR Srinivas, a diabetologist who runs City Healthcare Hospital in Kolar has treated five patients with maggot therapy and has now written to the director of AYUSH (ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha and homoeopathy) in Karnataka requesting him to use the therapy in AYUSH hospitals in the state.

AYUSH director Raj Kishore Singh said that a protocol had to be developed before using it. He has also written to the drug controller general of India to recognise maggots as a medical device.