Extracts from Fly Maggots and Fly Pupae as a “Wound Healer”

Abstract

On one hand the population in good old Europe and North America is decreasing in number, yet on the other there is an enormous increase in age. This leads to an increase in typical diseases of the elderly such as diabetes, decubitus and/or “nonhealing wounds” of other origin as consequences of incorrect diet and/or being constantly bedridden. There are many approaches to clear the situation of those people with “nonhealing wounds”. However, although huge amounts of money are spent on different therapies thousands of amputations have to be carried out per year in most of the so-called industrialized countries. For example, in 2004 about 42,000 amputations were carried out in Germany as consequences of the typical diabetic-foot-syndrome that occurred among the 6-8 million people suffering in Germany from diabetes – worldwide there are more than 300 million humans involved in diabetic diseases. The chapter describes a new approach to heal “non-healing” wounds by use of a patented extract from larvae of the fly Lucilia sericata, which is finally lyophilyzed and thus can be stored for long before use as “wound cover”.