Trivia
HardIn 2004 The FDA Approved What Ancient Medical Technique?
Answer: Maggot Therapy
It’s not a particularly appetizing thing to think about, but for thousands of years doctors have been aware of the medical value of applying fly larva, or maggots, to wounds in order to help clean and heal them. The first documented active use of maggots as a medical tool (as opposed to natural introduction of maggots that were observed to help the patient) comes to us courtesy of Dr. J.F. Zacharias, a Confederate medical officer in the American Civil War, who wrote:
Maggots … in a single day would clean a wound much better than any agents we had at our command … I am sure I saved many lives by their use.
Despite the evidence compiled over the centuries that certain kinds of fly maggots would aggressively eat up any necrotic tissue in open wounds and protect the body from the harmful effects of the decomposing flesh, maggot therapy, like all medical procedures, devices, and medicines, had to pass muster with the FDA before getting an official stamp of approval.
In 2004 the FDA did just that, and after reviewing sufficient studies and evidence it approved the use of maggot therapy for use in treatment of non-healing necrotic skin and soft tissue wounds, non-healing traumatic and post-surgical wounds, and for the treatment of several kinds of skin ulcers including pressure ulcers and neuropathic foot ulcers.
Trivia
EasyThe Men-Yoroi Was A Distinctive Piece Of Armor Worn Where?
Trivia
HardThe Widow Of Which Famed American Entrepreneur Spent Millions On A Mansion For Ghosts?
Trivia
HardWhich Of These Email Services’ Names Includes A Hidden Nod To The Way You Access It?
Trivia
HardWhat Purpose Does The Penny Aboard NASA’s Curiosity Rover Serve?
Trivia
EasyWhich Film Does George Lucas Wish To Smash With A Sledgehammer?
Trivia
Hard“Credit Crunch,” The Practice Of Shrinking TV Show Credits To Run Promos, Was Pioneered By?
Trivia
HardJames Randi Will Pay You One Million Dollars To Prove What?
Trivia
Very HardThe First U.S. Domestic Intelligence Agency Was The?
Trivia
HardBen Franklin Wasn’t Just A U.S. Founding Father, But The Founder Of Modern?