Maggots work because they eat dead tissue (debridement) within the wound, which can promote infection. This treatment seems to help reduce the risk of infection after surgery because the larvae are thought to secrete substances that fight infection.

How effective is maggot therapy?

The therapy can be repeated if necessary; however, a new set of maggots must be used each time. Results from one of Sherman's published studies showed that MDT debrided 80% of wounds compared to 48% in conventional therapy patients. MDT cleaned dead tissue, disinfected the wounds and stimulated healthy tissue growth.

Do doctors still use maggots to clean wounds?

Maggot therapy is not only used on horses, but on small animals as well, with the same general purpose of debriding a wound. Maggot therapy is also used in human medicine, mostly for ulcers and non-healing traumatic or post-surgical wounds. The medical maggots are not as big in size as one might expect.