When it comes to maggots, we all feel disgusted because we can only see them in decay and feces. Mollusks are uncomfortable to be afraid of, but who would have thought that such a visually striking and contrasting species could make a huge contribution to human healing, even to the point of preserving limbs and saving lives? History of maggot development The larvae of flies, maggots, have long been noted for their cleansing effect on infected wounds. In the mid-16th century, it was discovered that maggots breeding on infected wounds did not aggravate the infection, but rather facilitated healing. In the 19th century, Napoleon’s army used this method to treat wounded soldiers, and it was extended to the American Civil War and World War I. In the 1940s, the advent of antibiotics caused maggot therapy to be abandoned, and the use of maggots for healing became a crude and unscientific native method. Maggot therapy was widely used in the United States and some European countries for a variety of purulent infected wounds, including: abscesses, burns, gangrene and chronic leg ulcers, with good clinical results and a clinical treatment rate of 80%. In the 21st century, due to the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria caused by the abuse of antibiotics, a new generation of doctors began to reduce the use of antibiotics and re-favor natural biological therapies, which in turn brought maggot therapy back into the limelight. The development of maggots abroad As early as the 1960s and 1970s, foreign countries have attached importance to the role of maggots in medical and public health leadership, and now in the United States and other developed countries have achieved mechanized factory production of fly maggots. In the suburbs of Miami in the United States, a fly farm was built to produce sterile fly maggots, which led to the poultry and livestock breeding industry, promoted the planting industry, and derived a series of field enterprises such as feed processing, industrial refining, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and food processing. In Europe, maggots have entered the community and there are maggot application departments dedicated to the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers, wound infections and ulcers, etc. The domestic development of maggots in the country was introduced into China in 1998 by Professor Wang Jiangning, vice president of Beijing Saitan, and was applied to clinical success in severe soft tissue infections combined with systemic toxic symptoms. Patients can avoid amputation, which not only preserves life but also avoids amputation. The effectiveness of this therapy was reported twice by the program “Into Science” of CCTV. The research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China in 2004 and 2010, and by the Beijing Capital Medical Specialties Project in 2009, which revealed the nature of biological debridement and the molecular structure and biosynthesis of maggot antibacterial peptide at the molecular level, laying a more solid theoretical foundation for human biological debridement. The clinical indications of bio-cleaning are mainly: diabetic foot, bedsore and soft tissue infection caused by trauma. Of course, not all kinds of maggots are suitable. It has been found that the maggots of green flies only eat decaying tissues, not fresh meat. The maggots we use in medicine are sterilized from mother culture to egg collection to larvae culture to meet international standards of “sterile maggots”. This is what we call medical maggots, medical maggots wound cleaning is fast and good, it can also enter the deep wounds that are difficult to reach in surgery, through continuous crawling and peristalsis can stimulate the growth of meat buds, and maggots themselves will secrete a liquid, this secretion has been studied bactericidal anti-infective effect than penicillin and cephalosporin three generation effect is stronger, and stable. This is why maggots are able to survive in highly decomposed soft tissue and feces. The therapy is more effective than conventional methods in removing wound flesh and accelerating the healing of ulcerated wounds, thus preventing patients from undergoing amputation due to limb ulceration. Maggot therapy has advantages in treating diabetes, foot ulcers, and skin ulcers. On Dec. 22, 2011, French researchers said maggots may clean up large wounds that are difficult to heal faster than surgery, such as those on diabetic patients. Professor Wang Jiangning also said that because of the different cultures at home and abroad, maggots have long been integrated into people’s daily lives and there is no rejection of maggot therapy treatment. However, in China, the application of maggot therapy is confined by traditional concepts, and most of them express fear and rejection of such worm treatment. Still, people will accept this treatment when they really face amputation and death. But this is too passive and not only affects the treatment, but also restricts the development of this technology in China. If maggots are widely used in China, then our medical level will take a big step forward to further promote wound healing, protect preserved limbs, and preserve life!