An Antibiotic from Maggots

Abstract

IN 1929, Baer¹ introduced maggot therapy into clinical practice as an adjunct to surgery for the treatment of osteomyelitis. This technique became widely used in North America, and was extended to the treatment of other lesions where there was pyogenie infection or tissue necrosis². Maggots were believed to have a threefold action within a wound: débridement of necrotic tissue by means of proteolytic enzymes¹, stimulation of granulation tissue due to the larval excretion allantoin³ and reduction of wound infection. Baer¹ did not consider reduction of wound infection to be merely the result of débridement and tissue stimulation, and Robinson³ has shown that allantoin, even in concentrations up to 8 per cent, has no antibacterial activity.