Question
In House of the Dragon, S01E02, the maester is giving King Viserys I a very unique treatment for his pinky finger.
- By burying it into a swamp of maggots.
The purpose is to allow maggots to eat away the dead flesh off from his pinky finger.
How realistic is it?
But what happens to all the bacteria/parasites one can contract from maggots? How practical is it?
I remember in the movie, Gladiator, starring Russel Crowe, when he travels in a slave cage, a fellow slave puts some maggots onto his open wound as well for the same purpose.
Answer
It is realistic and has historical and recent usage proof/
From the Wikipedia page of Maggot therapy:
Written records have documented that maggots have been used since antiquity as a wound treatment. There are reports of the use of maggots for wound healing by Maya, Native Americans, and Aboriginal tribes in Australia. Maggot treatment was reported in Renaissance times. Military physicians observed that soldiers whose wounds had become colonized with maggots experienced significantly less morbidity and mortality than soldiers whose wounds had not become colonized. These physicians included Napoleon’s general surgeon, Baron Dominique Larrey. Larrey reported during France's Egyptian campaign in Syria (1798–1801) that certain species of fly consumed only dead tissue and helped wounds to heal.
Even from the same page:
There were reports that American prisoners of war of the Japanese in World War II resorted to maggot therapy to treat severe wounds.
A survey of US Army doctors published in 2013 found that 10% of them had used maggot therapy.
Answered By - Ankit Sharma
