Insects & Medicine

February 6, 2018 | Author: Anonymous | Category: Science, Biology, Zoology, Entomology
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Pests, Plagues & Politics Lecture 11 Insects & Medicine • Medicine – Etymology {the study of word origins} • derived from the same Greek word as “mead” which was/has been reported to have remarkable curative properties.

Key Points • • • • •

Wound Debridement Medicinal properties of honey Insect Sutures Aphrodisiacs Historic use of insects as medicine

Insects as healing agents • Maggot Debridement Therapy Fly larvae as agents of antisepsis – Sepsis (Gr. ‘sepsis’ = putrefaction) – “poisoning caused by the absorption into the blood of pathogenic micro-organisms”

• Discovered in the U.S. Civil War that flyblown wounds healed faster & cleaner. • Caused the surgeons to investigate this phenomenon. • Wound Myiasis – “an infection of the organs or tissues of man or animals by fly larvae that, for at least a period of time, feed upon the living or dead tissues.”

Flies Responsible • Diptera – family Calliphoridae - the BLOW FLIES – family Sarcophagidae - the FLESH FLIES – in their larval stage they feed on “meat” • the buzzards of the insect world

– some species feed on living tissue • be careful in your selection of species.

– The commonly found/used species • Phormia regina - P. terraenovae & Lucillia sericata

Flesh Fly

Blow Flies • Surgeons began intentionally infesting wounds with fly larvae. • Today: – eggs are surface sterilized and placed on a food source (horse meat normally) – 2 day old larvae inoculated into wound – larvae flushed out with saline in 3 or 4 days and younger larvae added as necessary.

Phormia regina Eats only dead tissue

“And the gilded little fly does lecher in my sight. Let copulation thrive!!” Shakespeare - King Lear

Calliphoria vomitoria Bad choice.

This species will eat living tissue.

The working end of a blow fly larva.

You may wish to avert your eyes

Blow Flies • Maggot debridement therapy – especially helpful in cases of bone infections (osteomyelitis) – discovered that not only did the larvae assist in cleanup of dead tissue, but they also produced an endogenous antibiotic – plus they secrete ammonia & calcium carbonate which promote healing – A resurgent technology • see: BIOMAGGOT.com

HONEY as medicine • A long history as a mendicant – ancient Egyptians used it as a wound dressing – practiced to this day.

• Is is wise to do so?? – YES – and here’s why:

Honey in medicine • Three mechanisms that account for the medicinal properties of honey – pH • average of 3.9 - an acid medium

– Hyperosmotic • low moisture content dehydrates (via osmosis) microbial life that enters honey

– Inhibine • a term coined in the mid-1930ties to describe an “unknown” antibiotic property of honey

Honey In Medicine • A host of testimonial claims for the efficacy of honey – – – – – –

burns abrasions bed wetting insomnia hyperactivity ad nauseum

She almost had it right!!!

Insect Sutures Soldier ants A nice example of polymorphic caste extremism.

Major and minor worker of E. burchelli

Army ant soldier

Ant Stitches • An ancient practice – India; 3,000 yrs. BP – Known also from the mid-East & So. America

• Commonly used ant genera – Camponotus - carpenter ants – Atta - leaf-cutter ants – Eciton - army ants

Insects AS Medicine • Blister Beetles – source of CANTHARIDIN • a blistering agent • hexahydro-3,7-dimethyl-4, 4epoxyisobenzofuran-1, 3-dione • (just in case you wanted to know) • the infamous SPANISH FLY – a putative aphrodisiac

A bit of mythology

Cantharidin • A defensive chemical produced by beetles to ward off predator attacks – reflex bleeding (autohemorrhization) – dried beetles contain up to 1% cantharidin by weight – toxic, blistering agent • 30 mg a fatal dose for humans

– Recommended by such worthies as • Hippocrates & Galen ‘…to stimulate certain internal organs.’

The real Spanish Fly • • • •

Order Coleoptera Family Meloidae G.& s. Lytta vesicatoria 2,000 species of blister beetles – 68 species in the genus Lytta – Many are native to the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. [note: lytta = rage (Gr.): vesica = blister (L.)]

An African “Spanish” Fly • In Zimbabwe – Genus Mayalabris – Known locally as “vuka-vuka” •vuka means “wake up”

– Most potent concoction is known as “Squirrel’s Jump” • squirrels considered to be very romantic animals…

BLISTER BEETLES SEE, it works!!!!!

Insects as aphrodisiacs • 2002 Review article by Prischmann & Sheppard 24 insect families with “proven” efficacy by various species (beetles, bugs, bees, wasps, ants moths, et alia.

• Used as general aphrodisiacs, love potions, E.D. “stimulants” [entomological Viagra], potency enhancements & on and on. • A history as old a Hippocrates [the father of medicine] and Galen {2nd century Greek} • It still sells today!

Bee & Wasp Venoms • Desensitization of humans hypersensitive to Hymenopteran venoms • Used in controlled, serial dosages – 3 to six months – begins with the injection of 1/200th of the venom of one bee or wasp – ends with an injection of equivalent venom of two bees or wasps

• First licensed by the FDA in 1976 • Fully licensed in 1980

Bee Venom • Vast anecdotal base for help (or “cure) for: – Arthritis – Bursitis – M.S. • NIH-OAM funded an M.S. study in 1998

• BVT very popular in the world of • alternative medicine.

Insects AS Medicine • “Mea

culpa est ignorami”

• Insects in pharmacopoeia (drug ref. Books)

– Two basic principles observed • Ingredients as repulsive as possible • insect used must bear some resemblance of the complaint or suffering. • Insects used in the symbolic transfer of disease • ancient dogma: “similia smilibus curentur” • also known as the Doctrine of Signatures or • Sympathetic Medicines - Law of Similarity

Earwigs for Deafness • Elizabethan England • Dried & powdered earwigs mixed with rabbit urine & poured into the ears twice daily. • Earwigs – Order DERMAPTERA (“skin” wing) – small group of nocturnal scavengers that do NOT crawl into human ears.

The European Earwig

“Mother & Child(s)” Post-natal care, & rather rare in the insect world.

Order DERMAPTERA

Cockroach Soup Jazz great Louie Armstrong related that his mother would often feed him cockroach soup at times of childhood illness.

Bed Bug Broth

• Elizabethan England (again) – as a cure for Malaria

Insects as medicine • Grasshoppers to stop the fits – NY-late 19th century

• Cockroaches for measles – place the insect in a jar or under a thimble and allow it to die - thereby “transferring” the disease from human to bug.

• Singing insects for ear & throat problems – Europe during the Middle Ages

Insects as medicine • For baldness – the use of hairy insects – Pliny in HISTORIA NATURALIS • “The heads of flies, applied fresh to the bald place is a convenient medicine for the said infirmity & defect.”

– 1743: English Medical Dictionary • “Powdered bees contribute to the growth of hair”

Spiders as medicine • Tarantism – a nervous disorder characterized by hysteria & a mania for dancing – a form of anxiety displacement – believed to be caused by spider bites

• First observed in the Italian town of TARANTO in the 16th & 17th centuries – from which the name Tarantula is derived – from which the folk dance “Tarantella” is derived

Recommended cure for Tarantism was to eat live spiders!!!

YUMMY!!! Watch the Tarantella!

South America • Theraphosa blondi, • The Goliath Bird-eater • the largest spider in the world • To cook, it must be roasted in fire to “burn off the toxic hairs” • Roasted for roughly seven minutes, and then cracked open like crabs • Abdomen has actual “meat” in it • Supposedly tastes like smoked crab

Key Points • • • • •

Wound Debridement Medicinal properties of honey Insect Sutures Aphrodisiacs Historic use of insects as medicine

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