NEWS RELEASE
MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS
Division of University Relations
403 Olds Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1047
MEDIA CONTACT: Robert Root-Bernstein, Physiology
(517) 355-6475 Ext. 1263 or
Tom Oswald, Media Communications
(517) 355-2281
10/15/97
MAGGOTS, LEECHES, DIRT: JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Maggots wriggling around in an open wound; leeches crawling about your body; blood oozing from a punctured vein.
The stuff of nightmares? In reality, it could be the cure for what ails ya'.
A new book by a Michigan State University professor looks with loving detail at many ancient folk remedies and old wives' tales that were discarded by medical practitioners of the past, but are now making comebacks in medical clinics today.
Honey, Mud, Maggots and Other Medical Marvels, written by Robert Root-Bernstein, an MSU professor of physiology, and Michele Root-Bernstein, a historian and writer, exams medical remedies from throughout the ages that have influenced, and, in many cases, continue to influence modern medicine.
"We owe a profound medical debt to the past and to the multiple cultures of the world, and we should be proud to acknowledge it," the Root-Bernsteins write in the introduction of the book.
Essentially, Honey, Mud, Maggots takes a look at old remedies that have been clinically studied and "there is no doubt that this stuff works," says Robert Root-Bernstein.
"Many home remedies deserve to go extinct," the Root-Bernsteins write. "The critical problem is this: Some alternatives do deserve to be incorporated into standard medical practice but, in the current system, cannot be."
The book is a light-hearted series of stories with a serious point about how the future of medicine may be influenced by looking to other cultures and to the past. Each chapter is devoted to a certain folk remedy that has withstood the test of time. For example:
* Chapter 2, titled "A Flyblown Idea," notes the usefulness of maggots in cleaning wounds. Used to treat gangrene, ulcers and burns, certain maggots keep wounds clean by eating only dead tissue, leaving the wounds red and healthy. The Root-Bernsteins note that the "disgust factor" is what keeps this from becoming a widely accepted treatment.
* Chapter 7, titled "Hirudo the Hero," details the comeback of the lowly leech. It seems leech saliva, which contains a chemical called hirudin, helps to re-establish blood flow and is a very effective anti-coagulant. The authors also note that the word leech is derived from the Anglo-Saxon loece, "to heal."
* Chapter 5, "Geopharmacy," explains how many cultures eat dirt or clay to combat everything from malnutrition to dysentery to morning sickness. In fact, one of today's more common medications, the diarrhea-fighting Kaopectate, literally has its roots in the earth. It is essentially a combination of two folk remedies for gastrointestinal distress: pectin, found in many fruits such as blackberries, and kaolin, a white clay made up primarily of hydrated aluminum silicate.
Other chapters cover such "medical marvels" as blood letting (an effective fever-reducer and treatment for heart disease), honey therapy (proven to foster muscle restoration and minimize scarring from burns), urotherapy (in which urine is used in treating various infections and wounds), and laudable pus (shown that when standard antibiotics fizzle out, mild purposeful infection increases the inflammatory response, strengthening tissue).
The Root-Bernsteins stress they are not advocating a return to the days of blood letting, laudable pus, or bathing in urine.
"But," said Robert Root-Bernstein, "we do think that it is worth taking many discredited alternative medical practices just seriously enough to determine whether they have nuggets of valuable insight that we can mine for development of new therapies."
Robert Root-Bernstein, an MSU professor of physiology, is a former research associate of Dr. Jonas Salk and a former MacArthur Prize Fellow. His other books include Rethinking Aids and Discovering.
Michele Root-Bernstein is the author of Boulevard Theater and Revolution in Eighteenth-Century Paris, which won the Sierra Best Book Award from the Western Association of Women Historians.
RSS