{"id":38198,"date":"2026-05-17T13:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T13:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/?p=38198"},"modified":"2026-05-17T13:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T13:10:11","slug":"got-maggots-these-doctors-are-bringing-the-bugs-into-their-practice-on-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/?p=38198","title":{"rendered":"Got maggots? These doctors are bringing the bugs into their practice on purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-e82f42\" class=\"body-graf\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/maggots-rotten-fish-overhead-bin-fall-passenger-international-delta-fl-rcna139235\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lowly maggot<\/a> gets a bad rap, mostly known for feeding on corpses and rotting meat. <\/p>\n<p><button class=\"styles_subscriptionCTA__LOUeY\" id=\"subscriptionCTA\" type=\"button\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"styles_textWrapper__vxvko\">\n<p class=\"styles_text__daaVB styles_textLarge__qlzwu\">Subscribe to read this story ad-free    <\/p>\n<p class=\"styles_text__daaVB\">Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/rockcms\/2026-01\/arrow-f55fa5.svg\" alt=\"arrow\" class=\"styles_arrow__tnruW\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/button><\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-576b43\" class=\"body-graf\">But modern medicine is giving its reputation new life \u2014 as a tiny surgeon.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-bc4df7\" class=\"body-graf\">Polly Cleveland, of New York City, turned to so-called maggot therapy when she was caring for her late husband, Tom, in 2023.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-4eec8e\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cAfter a stay in the hospital, he came back with this terrible sore on his left heel,\u201d Cleveland said.  Later, he developed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/health\/health-news\/nearly-1-4-us-hospital-patients-experience-harmful-event-study-finds-rcna65119\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bedsore<\/a> on his buttocks. \u201cThese kinds of wounds really smell foul.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-bb3439\" class=\"body-graf\">The doctors and nurses treating her husband had never heard of using maggots for wound cleaning. Cleveland, who has a lifelong interest in bugs, found a lab established by Dr. Ronald Sherman, a pioneer of modern maggot therapy, and was able to order a shipment of maggots overnight.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"styles_inlineImage__FvnTh styles_medium__MEKii\" id=\"anchor-b520a9\"><picture class=\"styles_image__i32F7\" data-testid=\"picture\" data-flavor=\"fit\" data-original-height=\"1200\" data-original-width=\"1800\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-05\/260514-polly-cleveland-maggots-inline-lr-97db6e.png 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-05\/260514-polly-cleveland-maggots-inline-lr-97db6e.png 1x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-05\/260514-polly-cleveland-maggots-inline-lr-97db6e.png 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-05\/260514-polly-cleveland-maggots-inline-lr-97db6e.png 1x\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-05\/260514-polly-cleveland-maggots-inline-lr-97db6e.png\" alt=\"Polly Cleveland \" height=\"1200\" width=\"1800\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"caption styles_caption__TCewG\" data-testid=\"caption\"><span class=\"caption__container\" data-testid=\"caption__container\">Polly Cleveland and her late husband, Tom Haines.<\/span><span class=\"caption__source\" data-testid=\"caption__source\">Courtesy Polly Cleveland <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"anchor-f0e929\" class=\"body-graf\">Medicinal maggots are considered <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/vaccines-blood-biologics\/development-approval-process-cber\/transfer-regulatory-responsibility-center-devices-and-radiological-health-center-biologics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">FDA-cleared medical devices<\/a>, which are specially raised in laboratories to be germ-free. Maggots are the larvae of flies.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-3558f6\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cYou get this little vial with these teeny, tiny little maggots on a piece of gauze,\u201d Cleveland said. (The maggots can also be sold in a sachet resembling a tea bag, so they can\u2019t wander freely.) \u201cI stuck the maggots in, and by golly, they did their thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-566ff2\" class=\"body-graf\">The wounds, she said, had been \u201cso icky,\u201d with \u201cpus and other nasty stuff coming out of them.\u201d Once the maggots were finished, \u201cit was sort of a dimpled, pink tissue, really nicely cleaned up.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"anchor-cc9584\" class=\"body-heading\"><strong>Flesh is food<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p id=\"anchor-f2366a\" class=\"body-graf\">The thinking behind maggot therapy is straightforward: Diseased and dying tissue must be removed from wounds in order to prevent infection. To maggots, this dead tissue is food.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-52bc70\" class=\"body-graf\">Using maggots is painless. \u201cThe maggots remove dead tissue by dissolving it,\u201d said Sherman, a retired assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, Irvine, who is now the medical and scientific director at Cuprina, a biotech company that sells medicinal maggots. \u201cThey do not have teeth. They do not bite pieces from the tissue. They secrete their digestive enzymes which dissolve the dead infected tissue in the wound, and so only that tissue melts away. The healthy tissue stays behind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-cd1804\" class=\"body-graf\">In severe cases, so-called wound debridement is done surgically.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-fcb030\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cSurgery tends to be a bit coarse,\u201d Sherman said. \u201cThe scalpel is straight, and the border between healthy tissue and dead tissue is not straight. The surgeon\u2019s vision is limited to a macroscopic level, not a cellular level, not a microscopic level.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-f9ae9b\" class=\"body-graf\">That\u2019s not a problem for maggots, which can remove dead flesh with a degree of precision surgeons can\u2019t achieve.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"styles_inlineImage__FvnTh styles_medium__MEKii\" id=\"anchor-186e98\"><picture class=\"styles_image__i32F7\" data-testid=\"picture\" data-flavor=\"fit\" data-original-height=\"1280\" data-original-width=\"1920\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-05\/260514-maggots-sachet-inline-lr-ce2e85.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-05\/260514-maggots-sachet-inline-lr-ce2e85.jpg 1x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-05\/260514-maggots-sachet-inline-lr-ce2e85.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-05\/260514-maggots-sachet-inline-lr-ce2e85.jpg 1x\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-05\/260514-maggots-sachet-inline-lr-ce2e85.jpg\" alt=\"Medicinal maggots in a sachet.\" height=\"1280\" width=\"1920\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"caption styles_caption__TCewG\" data-testid=\"caption\"><span class=\"caption__container\" data-testid=\"caption__container\">Medicinal maggots in a sachet.<\/span><span class=\"caption__source\" data-testid=\"caption__source\">Cuprina <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"anchor-680b5e\" class=\"body-graf\">Maggot therapy can be used in people who might not do well in surgery.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-502bf2\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cYou don\u2019t need anesthesia, which is the greatest risk for people who are deemed poor surgical candidates,\u201d Sherman said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-185d3b\" class=\"body-graf\">Lisa Baxter, the clinical director of the inpatient wound and ostomy care team at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, said her team uses maggot therapy once or twice a year, usually for patients who can\u2019t have surgery.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-71dca6\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cWe\u2019ve had a couple patients awaiting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/health\/health-news\/researchers-try-new-ways-preserving-hearts-transplants-rcna219229\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">heart transplant<\/a> that had wounds that needed to be healed before they could get their transplant, so this is sort of a simple way to expedite the process,\u201d Baxter said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-9c7b83\" class=\"body-graf\">She added that, curiously, maggots don\u2019t like the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/health\/health-news\/recalled-eyedrops-causing-blindness-know-drug-resistant-bacteria-rcna78541\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bacteria Pseudomonas<\/a>, a common cause of infection in hospitals. If using maggot therapy, she said, \u201cWe have to make sure that the wound does not have Pseudomonas in it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-1d3f73\" class=\"body-graf\">Dr. David Armstrong, the director of the University of Southern California Limb Preservation Program, turned to maggots during the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-5669af\" class=\"body-graf\">He recalled one of his patients whose surgery for a gangrenous foot wound had been canceled because of Covid. The patient had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/health\/heart-health\/lillys-tirzepatide-cuts-heart-failure-risks-company-says-rcna164587\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">heart failure<\/a>, diabetes and peripheral artery disease.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-b15787\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cHis feet were going to kill him,\u201d Armstrong said. To forestall further infection, he recommended home maggot therapy. Nurses, with maggots on hand, visited the patient at home and Armstrong guided the process over a video call. He said the approach saved the man from losing more of his foot.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"anchor-20f0e5\" class=\"body-heading\"><strong>The ick factor<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p id=\"anchor-f84eee\" class=\"body-graf\">If maggots can be so beneficial, why aren\u2019t they used more frequently?<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-c6bfb9\" class=\"body-graf\">For one, there\u2019s the issue of insurance. \u201cMaggot therapy is not adequately reimbursed by our system of medicine,\u201d Sherman said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-b8ec6f\" class=\"body-graf\">Sherman said maggots are cheaper than a type of ointment commonly used to clean wounds, called an enzymatic debrider. \u201cYou can probably buy enough maggots to treat one or two wounds for $400,\u201d he said. The ointment, which is covered by insurance, costs around $450 for a week\u2019s supply and can take more than 12 weeks to fully clean a wound.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-f3dfb2\" class=\"body-graf\">Not everyone sees a use for maggot therapy.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-e6a300\" class=\"body-graf\">Dr. Sameer Patel, chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Temple University Hospital and Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, said there are already plenty of options available for wound management.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"styles_inlineImage__FvnTh styles_medium__MEKii\" id=\"anchor-03afc5\"><picture class=\"styles_image__i32F7\" data-testid=\"picture\" data-flavor=\"fit\" data-original-height=\"1044\" data-original-width=\"1920\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-05\/260514-maggots-petri-dish-lr-0bc4f3.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-05\/260514-maggots-petri-dish-lr-0bc4f3.jpg 1x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-05\/260514-maggots-petri-dish-lr-0bc4f3.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-05\/260514-maggots-petri-dish-lr-0bc4f3.jpg 1x\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-05\/260514-maggots-petri-dish-lr-0bc4f3.jpg\" alt=\"Medicinal maggots in a petri dish.\" height=\"1044\" width=\"1920\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"caption styles_caption__TCewG\" data-testid=\"caption\"><span class=\"caption__container\" data-testid=\"caption__container\">Medicinal maggots in a petri dish.<\/span><span class=\"caption__source\" data-testid=\"caption__source\">Cuprina <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"anchor-2d5eee\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cThis is not what one would consider by any means standard of care,\u201d Patel said. \u201cThe case reports and the things that we see in the literature [on maggot therapy] are very unique situations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-bad667\" class=\"body-graf\">He said there isn\u2019t enough high-quality data to support wider use of maggot therapy. \u201cDo I think it\u2019s ever going to become a widespread modality? No, I don\u2019t think that\u2019ll happen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-e8f8f4\" class=\"body-graf\">Then, of course, there is the \u201cyuck factor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-8c37e6\" class=\"body-graf\">Sherman said that he\u2019s \u201cbeen seeing patients who would get a prescription for the maggots, but the doctor wouldn\u2019t do it. In those cases, it\u2019s usually because they\u2019re maybe grossed out by it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-03faeb\" class=\"body-graf\">Larry Way, 71, of Malden, Massachusetts, got over the grossness after he was hospitalized at Tufts Medical Center for a severely infected wound in 2021.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-c48b1f\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cHe failed anything that we tried and was quite ill, and was actually probably going to go to hospice and die within a couple of weeks because we couldn\u2019t fix this wound,\u201d said Baxter, who treated Way.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-f35f25\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cWe\u2019ve tried A, B, C, D, E,\u201d she said. \u201cThe only thing that\u2019s left is maggots.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-023895\" class=\"body-graf\">Way said that although he was \u201cmaybe a little concerned,\u201d he decided that it was worth braving the ick factor to try to save his life. It worked.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-67e650\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">The treatment, he said, was painless.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/health\/health-news\/got-maggots-doctors-are-bringing-bugs-practice-purpose-rcna345161\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The lowly maggot gets a bad rap, mostly known for feeding on corpses and rotting meat. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. But modern medicine is giving its reputation new life \u2014 as a tiny surgeon. Polly Cleveland, of New York City, turned to so-called maggot [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38199,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[171],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-conditions"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38198"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38200,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38198\/revisions\/38200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}