Maggot Menageries: High School Student Contributions to Medicinal Maggot Production in Compromised Healthcare Settings

Abstract

This case study describes how high school students can participate in research, development, and testing of real-life solutions for society's most intractable problems. In modern warfare, civilians make up most of the casualties, and conflict-affected communities are often isolated and have only limited access to healthcare. Most surviving casualties have limb wounds from injury or surgery, and many of these become infected and require longterm treatment or amputation. In 2020, MedMagLabs and the Queensland Virtual STEM Academy partnered to engage high school students to co-develop and test methods and training resources that empower people in conflict-affected communities to produce medicinal maggots for highly efficacious and affordable wound care. Maggot therapy is the treatment of wounds with living fly larvae to remove dead tissue, to control infection, and to promote wound healing. As opposed to most citizen science, which mainly focuses on data collection and/or educational and awareness-raising outcomes, this project focused on the co-creation of knowledge and the delivery of tangible research outcomes.