...as most of us will go "Yuck", when we see views like this.
But hold on, as these are not ordinary flies, and we will unlock another secret in nature, to show you how beneficial these yucky flies are to the human race.
Ever heard of Maggot Therapy? You will have to read the post, and the "Source" in order to understand this amazing story.
We have a short insert about maggot therapy in our book of insects, but I found that Wikipedia can tell the story better than I can. There is also a lot more detail in the Wikipedia article, and I read it in wonder about the healing powers of nature, to us, as human beings.
Maggot debridement therapy (also known as MDT, larval therapy, or simply maggot therapy) is a type of biotherapy involving the introduction of live, disinfected maggots (fly larvae) into non-healing skin and soft-tissue wounds of a human or other animal for the purpose of cleaning out the necrotic (dead) tissue within a wound (debridement), and disinfection. There is evidence that maggot therapy may help with wound healing.
They are called Blow Flies of the Family Calliphoridae.
The flies used most often for the purpose of maggot therapy are blow flies of the family Calliphoridae: the blow fly species used most commonly is Lucilia sericata, the common green bottle fly. Another important species, Protophormia terraenovae, is also notable for its feeding secretions, which combat infection by Streptococcus pyogenes and S. pneumoniae.
But how did medics discover that the maggots of the flies can heal people's wounds?
During World War I, orthopedic surgeon William S. Baer recorded the case of a soldier left for several days on the battlefield who had sustained compound fractures of the femur and large flesh wounds. The soldier arrived at the hospital with maggots infesting his wounds but had no fever or other signs of infection and survived his injuries, which would normally have been fatal. After the war, Baer began using maggot therapy at Boston Children's Hospital in Massachusetts.
Maggots healing also has an interesting history, as detailed in the Wiki article.
Finally, I will show you what the blow flies were eating, a small dog poop:)
So, in my mind the scene was both yucky and amazing, and no, one cannot smack a house fly to put it on a sore :) Apparently, the blow fly maggots have a special quality of acids and other long medicinal words that can disinfect and cure human wounds. No, I don't like flies, but when I saw this gathering I for some reason just had to take photos of it. It was indeed another secret in nature that was revealed to me. Such is life.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.
Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
Thank you kindly for supporting this post.
