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Biotherapy is the use of living animals for medical treatment or as an adjunct to medical diagnosis.

[edit] Overview

Biotherapy is the use of living organisms to diagnose, treat or cure disease or disease symptoms. 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. The latter, helminthic therapy, is also a class of immunotherapy.

Maggots, leeches & fish have been used to save limbs & lives. Dogs can detect cancer^[1], alert to medical problems, and raise the spirits. Bee venom has been reported to help in neurological and musculoskeletal diseases.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• 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
• http://www.helminthictherapy.com/ Site describing helminthic therapy, the use of parasitic intestinal worms, to treat immunological disorders.
• http://autoimmunetherapies.com/ Site providing helminthic therapy based on hookworm or whipworm (human)

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