Columnist Susan Snyder: Will maggot treatment fly here?

Friday, July 9, 2004 | 4:10 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4082.

WEEKEND EDITION

July 10 - 11, 2004

Nothing says "Get well soon" like a maggot.

Unless it's a leech.

And a doctor is applying either to one's body.

It seems people for whom modern technology has offered no cure are turning to the age-old practices of applying leeches to increase blood flow and maggots to destroy dead tissue and promote healing, according to a USA Today report published last week.

(Step away from the Rice Krispies. This only gets worse.)

Leeches are placed on tissue that has been re-attached or grafted from other places, which promotes circulation. Maggots are placed on wounds, where they eat away dead tissue and harmful bacteria, which promotes healing.

For many of us thoughts of either promote entirely different reactions, some of which are quite messy. But don't leave that bowl of spaghetti in the garage for a month just yet. Only medical-grade maggots should be used under the supervision of a physician who knows how to apply them.

And where does one obtain sterile maggots? Why, California of course. In January, Ronald Sherman, an Irvine internist, became the only person in the country to have U.S. Food and Drug Administration permission to supply therapeutic blow fly larvae (maggots), the USA Today report says.

Sherman's day job is treating infectious disease patients for the Los Angeles and Orange County health departments. It helps support his research in the Maggot Therapy Project at the University of California, Irvine.

According to the project's Web site, a vial of 500 to 1,000 disinfected maggots costs $70, plus shipping ($19 for standard Fed Ex overnight, $35 for maggots sent out on Friday to arrive on Saturday).

However, some health insurers cover the treatments, although USA Today didn't name one. So I called Sierra Health. (Hey, it's a living.)

Sierra Health doesn't cover leech or maggot therapy, Paul O'Neill, the company's Las Vegas spokesman, said.

O'Neill said the company is "pretty typical" of most health care insurers in that coverage is provided only "for more mainstream" types of alternative therapies, such as chiropractic services or acupuncture.

Did I mention he was on a speaker phone?

"A more obscure treatment would have to have proven efficacy and would have to be given a blessing by most of the major medical associations" before it would even be considered by the company's in-house team of physicians, O'Neill said.

He did not laugh. Not once.

The UC Irvine project's Web site lists 34 physicians in 21 states who have given permission to reveal their maggot therapy practice. Most of the states have one doctor, but Texas and New Mexico each list three.

California has the most -- of course -- with eight.

Nevada has none. No surprise there. We can hardly get them to stick around long enough to administer a Band-Aid.

It is not clear just how many federal government workers are assigned to the oversight of the nation's medical-grade maggot suppliers. "Maggot" and "leech" didn't provide so much as a single hit in the medical area of the agency's Web site.

Wonder what would happen on the site for Congress?