BEIJING, Aug. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- British researchers have developed a new antibiotic with maggots which can be used to tackle problem bugs including strains of superbug Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), according to media reports Wednesday.

    The drug named Seraticin was developed by scientists at the University of Swansea in Wales and is made from maggot secretions of the common green bottle fly.

    Tests have shown Seraticin to be effective against up to 12 different strains of MRSA, as well as the food poisoning bacterium Escherichia coli and Clostridium difficile.

    Professor Norman Ratcliffe, who led the researchers, said there was more work to be done before the full benefits of the discovery could come to fruition.

    They hope it will be turned into a treatment that can be injected, swallowed as a pill or used as an ointment.

    "It takes approximately 20 mugs of maggots to yield just one drop of purified Seraticin at present," he said.

    "Thus the next stage will be to... produce this chemically on a larger scale."

    Maggot therapy is now a recognized treatment for ulcers that will not heal, and placing maggots on wounds is an age-old method of fighting infection.

    (Agencies)