TORONTO DOCTOR SAVES MAN"S LEG FROM AMPUTATION WITH BLOWFLY MAGGOTS

AS REPORTED IN THE TORONTO SUN, SATURDAY, JULY 7TH, 2012,  A GENTLEMAN WHO WAS DIABETIC AND HAD A RAGING, FLESH-KILLING INFECTION IN HIS RIGHT FOOT, CAUSED BY ATTEMPTING TO REMOVE A PIECE OF CALLOUSED SKIN WITH A BLADE.

AT CENTENARY ROUGE VALLEY HOSPITAL IN SCARBOROUGH THEY WERE TRYING MEDICAL DISINFECTANTS, GELS, MINOR SURGERY BUT NONE WERE WORKING. THE INFECTION WAS SPREADING AND THE LEG HAD BECOME SUCH A SWOLLEN, BLOODY AND BLACKENED MESS THAT AMPUTATION BELOW THE KNEE WAS SERIOUSLY BEING CONSIDERED.  IT WAS THEN THAT HIS DOCTOR AND NURSE OPTED TO USE A PARTICULAR STRAIN OF MAGGOT TO TREAT THE FESTERING HOLE IN THE PATIENTS FOOT.

THE MAGGOTS WERE SHIPPED IN FROM CALIFORNIA WITHIN 24 HOURS AND WERE APPLIED ONCE A WEEK FOR THREE WEEKS AT 800 MAGGOTS PER TREATMENT.  THEY WERE LEFT ON THE SKIN FOR 36 HOURS AND THEN WASHED AWAY WITH  PEROXIDE RINSE.

BEFORE THIS COULD HAPPEN THEY HAD TO GET CLEARANCE FROM THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT, AS THE MEDICAL USE OF MAGGOTS IS "NOT MEDICINE THAT IS DEVELOPED IN CANADA SO YOU NEED TO GET APPROVAL."  THE PATIENT TO THIS DAY IS AMAZED THAT MAGGOTS, OF ALL THINGS, WERE WHAT ULTIMATELY SAVED HIS LEG FROM HAVING TO BE AMPUTATED.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOUR TORONTO CHIROPODIST AND TORONTO FOOT SPECIALIST, MARZ HARDY, D.Ch., B.Sc., PODIATRIC MEDICINE AND THE TEAM FROM ACADEMY FOOT AND ORTHOTIC CLINICS,

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