Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Not for the squeamish...

In a gross but fascinating trip back in time, modern medicine is beginning to reclaim the utility of treatments involving maggots and leeches in cases where nothing else works as well (or at all). One woman who was suffering debilitating reactions to (and little effectiveness from) antibiotics was able to save her extremities when maggots were used to clean away the dead tissue. I imagine that sort of thing could be an answer, too, to worries about antibiotic resistance . . .

(via boing boing)

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