Welcome to the BTER Foundation

The BTER Foundation is a non-profit, membership-based service organization specializing in public support and professional education in biotherapeutic medicine.

Biotherapy is the use of live animals to aid in the diagnosis or treatment of illness. Examples of biotherapy include service animals (such as guide dogs), wound therapy with leeches (hirudotherapy) or maggots (also known as “maggot therapy,” “maggot debridement therapy” [MDT], “larval therapy,” or (biodebridement”) and even “good germs” that can rid us of “bad germs” (phage therapy, for example, whereby viral parasites of specific pathogenic bacteria search and destroy those bacteria). For more information about various biotherapies, explore the links listed in the side panel.