Biocompatibility of antimicrobials to maggot debridement therapy: medical maggots Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae) exhibit tolerance to clinical maximum doses of antimicrobials

Animal healer for refractory diseases: Myth or reality?

A vast amount of knowledge has been acquired through human activities such as farming, hunting, and fishing. Throughout history, humans have utilized living creatures for disease treatment, relying on the natural world's healing powers. The special "healers" may be able to treat patients via the power of nature. However, there was no systematic introduction or summary of these treatments. Therefore, we conducted a literature review based on PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Scopus, CNKI and WanFang DATA. Here, we defined this unique method as "animal healer" and six common kinds of animal healers were reviewed. These are fish therapy, pet therapy, worm therapy, leech therapy, maggot therapy, and bee therapy. According to the different characteristics of healers, treatment methods mainly included bite, parasitism, contact and communication. With the advantages of green and effectiveness, animal healers have great therapy potential against a variety of refractory diseases. The main purpose of this review is to draw people's attention to animal healer, promote it to become a possible clinical treatment strategy, and make further exploration in species cultivation, mechanism research, animal welfare, standard setting, safety evaluation and other aspects. In the future, animal healers will play an increasingly important role in medicine and hopefully solve more medical problems and dilemmas.

Effects of antibiotics ceftriaxone and levofloxacin on the growth of Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae)

Lucilia sericata is one of the most studied species in forensic entomology due to its widespread distribution, forensic importance as well as medical use. The growth and development stage of maggots is often used to determine the post-mortem interval in forensic cases. L. sericata can cause myiasis in humans who are not able to maintain personal hygiene due to age or medical condition and can therefore be used to determine the time period of neglect. The influence of the temperature on the maggot development has been examined in various studies. Different examinations on the effects of toxic substances on the maggot development and survival have been conducted in order to test the influence and resulting deviations. In this study, the effects of different therapeutical doses of the antibiotics ceftriaxone and levofloxacin were examined on L. sericata in order to determine and compare deviations in maggot development and survival. The used antibiotics did not significantly influence the maggot weight and length. A significant delay in the time of pupation has been determined in the treatments with high concentrations of levofloxacin. The mortality was significantly increased in all treatments with antibiotics compared to the control, whereby the survivability of all treatments remained over 80%. Because of the high doses needed to produce an effect, we concluded that an overestimation of the post-mortem interval is unlikely but higher antibiotic concentrations or possible interactions with other medications could increase the maggot development time.

Establishing and characterising a new cell line from Calliphora vicina (diptera: calliphoridae) fly embryonic tissues

Insect cell lines represent a promising and expanding field as they have several research applications including biotechnology, virology, immunity, toxicology, cell signalling mechanisms and evolution. They constitute a powerful tool having a direct impact on human and veterinary medicine and agriculture. Although more than 1000 cell lines have currently been established from various insect species, Calliphora vicina-derived fly cell lines are lacking. This study was aimed at establishing a new C. vicina embryonic tissue-derived cell line. Adult flies were collected and embryonated eggs were mechanically homogenised and seeded in four types of culture media (L15, Grace's insect medium, Grace's/L15 and DMEM). Cell growth and morphological characteristics were recorded and cytogenetic and molecular patterns were determined. The CV-062020-PPB cell line was established and was shown to have optimal growth in Grace's/L15 medium. CV-062020-PPB cell monolayers that had been sub-cultured over 16 times consisted of firmly adhering cells having different morphologies; a fibroblast-like shape dominated and the karyotype had a 12-chromosome diploid number. RAPD-PCR analysis of the CV-062020-PPB cell line revealed a high similarity index and strong intraspecific relationship with C. vicina adult flies and a weaker relationship with the Lutzomyia longipalpis-derived cell line (Lulo). The CV-062020-PPB cell line constitutes the first cell line obtained from C. vicina embryonic tissues and represents an important basic and applied research tool.

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A new C. vicina embryonic tissue-derived cell line is here reported.

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Fibroblast-like cells were predominant.

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The cell-line karyotype was 2n = 12 diploid chromosomes.

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The DNA profile enabled discriminating its molecular identity.

Maggot Debridement Therapy in Disaster Medicine

BACKGROUND

When disaster strikes, the number of patients requiring treatment can be overwhelming. In low-income countries, resources to assist the injured in a timely fashion may be limited. As a consequence, necrosis and wound infection in disaster patients is common and frequently leads to adverse health outcomes such as amputations, chronic wounds, and loss of life. In such compromised health care environments, low-tech and cheap wound care options are required that are in ready supply, easy to use, and have multiple therapeutic benefits. Maggot debridement therapy (MDT) is one such wound care option and may prove to be an invaluable tool in the treatment of wounds post-disaster.

DISCUSSION

This report provides an overview of the wound burden experienced in various types of disaster, followed by a discussion of current treatment approaches, and the role MDT may play in the treatment of complex wounds in challenging health care conditions. Maggot debridement therapy removes necrotic and devitalized tissue, controls wound infection, and stimulates wound healing. These properties suggest that medicinal maggots could assist health care professionals in the debridement of disaster wounds, to control or prevent infection, and to prepare the wound bed for reconstructive surgery. Maggot debridement therapy-assisted wound care would be led by health care workers rather than physicians, which would allow the latter to focus on reconstructive and other surgical interventions. Moreover, MDT could provide a larger window for time-critical interventions, such as fasciotomies to treat compartment syndrome and amputations in case of life-threatening wound infection.

RECOMMENDATIONS

There are social, medical, and logistic hurdles to overcome before MDT can become widely available in disaster medical aid. Thus, research is needed to further demonstrate the utility of MDT in Disaster Medicine. There is also a need for reliable MDT logistics and supply chain networks. Integration with other disaster management activities will also be essential.

CONCLUSIONS

In the aftermath of disasters, MDT could play an important role facilitating timely and efficient medical treatment and improving patient outcomes. Existing social, medical, and logistic barriers will need to be overcome for MDT to be mainstreamed in Disaster Medicine.

Maggot debridement therapy: a systematic review

Maggot debridement therapy is used extensively in the UK in both community and hospital situations, but remains a potentially under-used modality in many wound care markets. It promotes wound healing by performing three key processes: debridement, disinfection and growth-promoting activity. It can be used for the debridement of non-healing necrotic skin and soft tissue wounds, including pressure ulcers, venous stasis ulcers, neuropathic foot ulcers and non-healing traumatic of post-surgical wounds. With the increase in chronic diabetic foot wounds, maggot debridement therapy is a promising tool for health professionals dealing with difficult wounds. This article presents an overview of the research evidence surrounding maggot debridement therapy that serves as a guide to health professionals who may be users of this form of treatment now and in the future.