From what I've dug up, they do indeed get rather large. An average of 5 - 6 inches leg span.
That is a bite a soldier suffered from a camel spider.
For the remaining necrotic tissue, one of the best ways of healing is to put maggots on the wound. (my wife's aunt has had this used on her ulcerated legs; it
does work....
http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/050419_maggots.html
Pam Mitchell knew the maggots were working when her foot started bleeding.
Four years ago, a small cut on Mitchell's left heel turned into an diabetes-related infection two inches wide and down to the bone. Another wound developed in her right foot, owing to dry, cracked skin. Doctors tried everything—creams, antibiotics—but nothing worked.
"My doctor told me to give it up, see a psychologist, and have my foot amputated," she recalls.
Mitchell, now 52, had to make a decision soon because the powerful antibiotic that doctors prescribed for her infection was also wreaking havoc on her bones.
Mitchell was preparing to undergo a dangerous bone marrow transplant when a friend remembered watching a TV show about European doctors using maggots to treat wounds like Mitchell's. With nothing to lose, she tried it.
Mitchell found a dermatologist willing to perform the procedure, and soon had 600 live maggots wriggling inside the wound on her left foot, 400 in her right, where they were sealed in gauze and left for two days.
Mitchell found a dermatologist willing to perform the procedure, and soon had 600 live maggots wriggling inside the wound on her left foot, 400 in her right, where they were sealed in gauze and left for two days.
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A growing number of doctors are starting to agree. Maggots are useful because they help remove dead tissue and expose healthy tissue, a process called debridement. Maggot debridement therapy was popular in the early part of the last century but went out of vogue when antibiotic use became widespread.
But maggots are now making a comeback, and they are increasingly being used to treat ulcers, gangrene, skin cancer, and burns. Research also suggests maggots may help decrease the risks of infections after surgery.
Leeches, too
Maggot therapy is just one example of a medical approach called biotherapy -- the use of living animals to aid in medical diagnosis or treatment. Leeches are another example.