Posted on 07/28/2005 5:13:09 AM PDT by Puppage
YONKERS, N.Y. -- A 63-year-old man died a day after emergency workers found him at his home in such squalid conditions that maggots were eating his flesh, a fire official said Wednesday.
Paramedics went to Michael Link's home Sunday night after his 66-year-old brother and roommate, Adam Link, said the victim was having trouble breathing, fire department surgeon Roger Chirurgi said.
Michael Link was lying in his own feces on a pile of debris and "had open wounds with maggots eating on the flesh," Chirurgi said. Link was taken to a hospital, where he died Monday, the surgeon said. His brother was undergoing psychiatric evaluation. The home, a large Victorian across from a school, was overgrown with trees, shrubs and weeds. Inside, paramedics found no electric power and papers and boxes everywhere, Chirurgi said.
Firefighters wore hazardous-materials suits to investigate the house after the brothers were taken out. Chirurgi said several veteran firefighters were sickened by the scene and stench.
Maggots are still used in the medical community because they only eat the necrotic flesh allowing healing to take place. What was sad was the poor man ending up in this situation.
Maggot has been a medical use for a long time. Gross indeed, but they eat only dead flesh.
Maggots use protein to break down flesh.. Most fly strikes are on necrotic wounds, because that what the maggots eat.
However, screwworm maggots eat live flesh. They are mostly eradicated here in the US, so it's doubtful they were eating this guy alive. More than likely, they were eating dead parts of his body as he was dying...
Are you sure that a screwworm bot is a 'maggot'? Maybe I'm not 'correct'.
>>You're correct! Maybe this guy actually had the larvae from screwworms? Those things thrive on live flesh. I remember them as a kid when we had to doctor our livestock in central Texas. Occasionally there are still outbreaks of screwworms in south Texas.
How bad were they? Could you save the livestock? I had a friend who's dad had a ranch... He said one day he went to grab a sheet by it's wool and the wool/skin simply ripped off and there were maggots eating the flesh... Nasty..
Probably 10 or more years ago, there was a woman in South Texas who died from being infected by a screw worm that had entered her head through her nasal cavity. Seems a screw worm fly had layed an egg in her nostril & she never knew or never sought medical treatment until it was too late.
Screw worms are still in Mexico.
Remind me not to visit Mexico.
I learned I was a maggot in Boot Camp, but I deny ever eating anyone.
A house like that in a good neighborhood is a magnet for real estate agents. It shows that someone is in trouble, and that we can make money by helping them solve their problems. Sadly, such people seldom realize that there may be a great deal of equity in that home even in need of full renovation, or in the lot alone (at least in our shore resort area).
Obviously the taxes were being paid, or the town would have started tax sale proceedings. Someone had the presence of mind and wherewithal to pay the taxes, but not to maintain the property.
See a house like that in your neighborhood? Keep an eye open, pay a call; maybe you can save someone.
Sometimes we could save the livestock - sometimes we couldnt. We had sheep, angora goats & cows. Whenever the sheep and/or goats were sheared then we had to watch them extra close cuz of the "nicks & cuts" from their shave. We had medicine to apply to their cuts that would kill the screw worm, but sometimes it was just too late by the time we noticed. Also, we had to watch newborns - cuz the screw worm fly would lay eggs around the umbilical cord and they would get infected & die. I recall that newborns had the highest mortality rate if they were so unfortunate as to get infected....it was sickening to look into the wound - I was a little kid - and see these larvae moving around in an open wound & they were feasting on live flesh!
At 63 and 66, I'd say they are. It's rare, but it's possible.
I like you Private Cowboy, you can "date" my sister!"
I don't know if having gynecologists in the family makes you crazy, or what. My gynecologist seems to be eminently sane.
only in New York
I know a man whose ear developed cancer and the doctor employed maggots to eat the dead tissue from the site. The elderly guy didn't know the procedure and was told under no circumstance was he to remove the bandage for two weeks.
During the course of the treatment, he had noticed a small lizard on his screened porch where he often napped and the next day the lizard was gone.
Well, the maggots got to working on the wound and he became convinced the lizard had found its way underneath his bandage and he said it was about to drive him crazy.
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