Across Thailand, from the hilltribes in the north and northwest to the rural south there is a range of such unusual cures. In some places, insects are even used for jewellery and as children's flying toys. Institute director Dr Pennapa Subcharoen said researchers with the institute have been cataloguing what insects are used where, noting down the formulas, meeting with folk doctors and pouring over ancient manuscripts. This is a complicated task, given the different names insects are given in different regions, the different languages spoken and the travel involved. Next year, the institute hopes to gain the funding to put its research on more of a scientific footing by working with university-based researchers and eventually holding clinical trials and toxicity tests.
Traditional medicine is extremely popular in Thailand.
The institute is already looking into the medicinal benefits of the country's herbs and seashells. The last government set about promoting the sector and its export potential. Herbal remedies are sold in many Thai hospitals while in the northeast, manufacturers are canning insects for sale abroad. Drop red ants into the wound. They will absorb the venom.