Biotherapy is the use of living animals for medical treatment or as an adjunct to medical diagnosis.
Overview
Biotherapy encompasses ,among other things, maggot therapy (maggot debridement therapy [MDT] , larva therapy), leech therapy (hirudotherapy), honey bee therapy (apitherapy), fish therapy (ichthiotherapy), pet therapy, detection dogs, medical response dogs, phage therapy, and helminthic therapy (worm therapy)
Maggots, leeches & fish have been used to save limbs & lives. Dogs can detect cancer[Michael McCulloch, Tadeusz Jezierski, Michael Broffman, Alan Hubbard, Kirk Turner, and Teresa Janecki. [http://ict.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/5/1/30 Diagnostic Accuracy of Canine Scent Detection in Early- and Late-Stage Lung and Breast Cancers] . "Integrative Cancer Therapies" 2006; 5(1), 30-9.] , alert to medical problems, and raise the spirits. Bee venom has been reported to help in neurological and musculoskeletal diseases.] References
External links
* [http://www.ucihs.uci.edu/com/pathology/sherman/home_pg.htm Maggot Therapy Project] web site at the University of California, Irvine, list of maggot therapy practitioners
* http://www.bterfoundation.org/ BioTherapeutics Education and Research Foundation
* http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/10/1024_031024_maggotmedicine.html