Leijpark013

@leijpark013 · 12 Jul 2021

Follow Following

Leijpark013 July 12, 2021 Green meat fly

#leijpark013
Published by Thierry P. Dinjens · 23 hours ·
In the list of 'annoying animals', the fly is very high, if not at the top. Their annoying constant buzzing around your head, the fact that they carry more than three hundred species of bacteria, some of which can make us sick well, and the knowledge that flies come to where death and destruction have not exactly made the fly popular. In the Leijpark we encounter the Green Meat Fly. It is this fly that can call itself state enemy number one of sheep farmers. The flies cause myasis, a skin disease in sheep, but also rabbits and chickens. The flies lay eggs on the fur and feathers of the unfortunate animals. The eggs come out, magots crawl under the skin and rot so they can eat the dead tissue. The putrefactive air attracts new flies again and an infected animal can succumb to its injuries within a week; in fact, it is eaten alive.
And yet the fact that the magots can only eat dead tissue for some people is an absolute blessing: diabetics.
Excessively high sugar levels cause damage to small blood vessels that support the nerves in the long run. This causes nerves to die and cause wounds that do not or barely heal, because there is no more blood flow. Tissue that doesn't heal dies. We also see this in bedsores in people who have been glued to their beds. The wounds don't heal and the tissue dies. In diabetics, open wounds (usually on the hands or feet) may cause bone inflammation and this may result in amputation of a hand, foot or even an entire limb. It is here, at an early stage, where the Green meat fly comes into view. People can be treated with a method called “magnesotherapy”. It works like this: a doctor inserts small magmots, into the wound. These maggots (fly larvae) emit an enzyme that dissolves the dead tissue and the maggots slurp it in, it's food for them. Also bacteria, which infect the wound, are eaten. This eliminates dead tissue and accelerates the production of new living tissue.
It's not so much the therapy itself that many patients oppose, as the idea. Normally we are already dead and buried before being eaten by the maggots. Flying as doctors is new to us and every new idea people need to get used to. And yet it will have to be a matter of thinking. Anything that can be cured at an early stage does not need to be amputated at a late stage. Imagine what a huge leap in quality of life that brings?!
We are learning more and more how to make use of nature, no matter how repulsive an idea may seem at first. The Green flesh fly is one of those species that makes us crazy, but can save lives as well. As we get to know our world better, there's a different appreciation for. The Leijpark is an excellent place to take a first step in this.