The UK government is funding for South Sudan and other international war zones to use maggots to help clean infected wounds.

In countries lacking medical supplies and trained staff, the creepy crawlies could be a ‘life saver’ by cleaning up dead tissue and disinfecting cuts.

Maggots have been used as far back as the American Civil War to prevent gangrene, as well as in WW1 after the scientist William Baerin noticed soldiers were less likely to die of their injuries if the wounds were infested with maggots.

The Department for International Development (DFID) – which is partly funding the £195,000 ($250,000) project – believes maggots could save people’s lives and limbs by treating 250 wounds a day in places such as Syria and South Sudan.

The UK government is funding for international war zones to use maggots to help clean infected wounds. In countries lacking medical supplies and trained staff, creepy crawlies could be a ‘life saver’ by cleaning up dead tissue and disinfecting cuts (stock) +2
The UK government is funding for international war zones to use maggots to help clean infected wounds. In countries lacking medical supplies and trained staff, creepy crawlies could be a ‘life saver’ by cleaning up dead tissue and disinfecting cuts (stock)

‘People living through conflict and humanitarian crisis are still dying from wounds that could so easily be healed with the right access to care,’ Penny Mordaunt, international development secretary, said.

‘This innovative update on a simple treatment used in the First World War trenches is already saving lives and has the potential to save so many more.’

Many people living in conflict areas die or lose their limbs after developing secondary infections from relatively simple operations.

And those with spinal injuries who are left immobile often pass away from bedsores they developed in hospital.

Source: The Mail