Airworthiness testing of medical maggots.
An investigation was conducted to test and certify medicinal maggots to facilitate rapid healing of traumatic and chronic wound infections in Wounded warriors being transported onboard military aircraft. Our specific aims included (1) to test the ability of medical grade larvae to withstand the rigors of U.S. Army aeromedical certification, including tolerance to change in pressure, temperature, and humidity inside ground-based chambers; (2) to evaluate the efficacy of the medical grade larvae during a high-vibration rotary-wing medical transport flight; and (3) to gain U.S. Army aeromedical certification and U.S. Air Force safe-to-fly approval and begin the steps needed to deploy/implement the use of medicinal maggots in patient care regimes for medical airlift standard operating procedures. This report outlines the ground-based and initial air-based tests performed during the study. Maggot mortality was very low during all tests, with a mortality rate of less than 1%. Maggot growth rates in wound arenas were mixed but generally depended on temperature. Overall, the results of these tests suggest that medicinal maggots can withstand the rigors of aeromedical evacuation flights in simulated flight environments and rotary- or fixed-wing aircraft.
Entomology Branch, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 503 Robert Grant Avenue, Building 503, Room 3w81, Silver Spring, MD 20910.
George W
GW
Peck
Airworthiness Certification & Evaluation Branch, United States Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory, Fort Rucker, AL 36362.
Sandra M
SM
Helgeson
Department of Aeromedical Research, US Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, 2510 5th Street, Building 840 Area B, Room W118.12, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433.
Eric D
ED
Powell
Bacterial Diseases Branch, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 503 Robert Grant Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910.
Amanda L
AL
Roth
Bacterial Diseases Branch, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 503 Robert Grant Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910.
Micah
M
Flores
Department of Medicine, F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, USUHS, 4301 Jones Bridge Road, Bethesda, MD 20814.
Benjamin C
BC
Kirkup
D000337:Aerospace Medicine; D017732:Air Ambulances; D000399:Air Pressure; D000531:Altitude; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D006813:Humidity; D007814:Larva / Q000254:growth & development*; D013696:Temperature; D014187:Transportation of Patients; D014732:Vibration