Medical Image of the Week: Maggots

Figure 1. Chronic ulcerated wound with clean base due to the debridement caused by the maggots.

An 80-year old man presented with pruritic exacerbation of his chronic wound. He had venous stasis ulcers chronically to the lower extremities bilaterally, requiring bandages. He presented with pruritis, but no fevers or pain. The bandage was removed which revealed the maggots (Figure 1).

Jarrod M. Mosier, MD

Department of Medicine and Emergency Medicine

Emergency Medicine-Critical Care Program

University of Arizona

Tucson, Arizona

Reference as: Mosier JM. Medical image of the week: maggots. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care. 2013;7(6):338. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13175/swjpcc154-13 PDF