While serving in World War I, surgeon William Baer noticed something curious: soldiers
whose wounds were infested with maggots (the wormlike immature larval form of flies)
recovered faster than those whose wounds were maggot-free. Although Baer was not the
first military doctor to take note of this phenomenon, he was the first to apply his
observations to the problem of nonhealing wounds. In the 1920s, he began treating
hospital patients' serious wounds with maggots. The maggots consumed dead tissue,
effectively cleaning the wounds and helping the patients heal. While maggot therapy fell
out of favor after bacteria-killing antibiotic medications were introduced, it has made a
comeback in modern medicine. Many clinicians have found that the treatment can be
effective for certain types of severe wounds that do not respond to antibiotics.
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