Crazy Maggot Infestation

credit: Bennett 4 Senate

It’s been a while since I dealt with maggots, but an experience I had this week reminded me why maggots feature so highly on the gross-o-meter. Quite a few maggot stories were submitted by readers in our recent Cringeworthy Competition also, so it appears I’m not alone in dealing with this crazy phenomenon.

The Scenario:

Elderly guy, some social issues, lives alone. Found on the floor out in a shed, unsure exactly how long he had been there. Brought into emergency by the ambulance guys, legs wrapped up in old towels.

Prior to my taking over his care, he had spent some hour+ in the shower with nursing staff trying to rid him of the incredible smells that were emanating over the entire department, with minimal success.

As I entered the bay where the man was lying, I could see some flickering movements on the floor by some of the miniature, writhing escapees – obviously they could sense what was to come & were desperate to make a break for it.

Now I’m pretty good at dealing with noxious gases and crazy hospital smells, however when I pulled back the sheets I could almost feel a gag coming on – not only did he have an ulcerated wound the size of his fist in his lower leg with tibia + tendons exposed, but inside this wound were literally hundreds of fat, writhing maggots. This wound was creating some crazy, off the chart smells that caused several people to collapse unconscious (nearly!)

Ouch!

The crazy thing was, he was quite oblivious to the entire situation – no pain, no comprehension of how many people he had taken out with the crazy death smells.

Operation Maggot-Removal:

So, armed with some hydrogen peroxide 3%, some irrigation fluid and forceps, I spent about an hour removing as many of the maggots from his leg wound as possible, flushing out the wound as best as I could. The situation was made a hundred times more complex as the maggots, keen to make their escape, were tunneling up inside the man’s leg and burying underneath the exposed tibia bone. Joy!

Crazy thing was, after I thought I was finished, I discovered a new stash of maggots in between his big toe & 1st toe (a cluster of like 30), then maggots between each of his other toes on that leg. The skin was kind of like when you go swimming for like a week or two straight, wrinkle toes etc, and there were little sinus areas where the maggots had buried in & were eating flesh.

So then I tackled the feet – I’m not quite sure I got them all, but I would estimate that in the leg wound & feet there were between 150 – 200 maggots all up. Good times!

Needless to say the smell got a lot better after the maggots were out & the wounds were flushed out & covered, and I strode out of the room with a gleam in my eye and some new founded respect – that day, I was….

The Maggot Whisperer…..

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