Leeches, as we all know, can be viewed by many as quite disgusting creatures to look at, especially when they are full and bloated after gorging themselves on blood. Many people fear leeches and most stay away from them. Just the thought of having a leech attach themselves to a part of the body is enough to scare anybody. But remember, there are leeches that serve many purposes, especially when it comes to the medicine world. These medicinal leeches have long been used in the treatment of illnesses and diseases, and they have also been used in the healing process of skin grafts.
As soon as the leeches attach themselves to the skin graft site, they begin to suck blood. While sucking, they also release a component called hirudin from their saliva. This component is very important in the inhibition of platelet aggregation (the process where the platelets clump or stick together) and coagulation cascade (a series of processes that ends with fibrin clot formation). Since there is a vasodilator component in their saliva too, venous congestion is further reduced, promoting good blood flow into the skin graft. After continuous medicinal leech therapy, the skin graft will soon turn warm and pinkish, a good sign that there is an adequate blood supply.
The frequency of leech therapy in patients with skin replants is about four days to five days, while the frequency in patients whose skin grafts became compromised is about six to ten days.
Not all patients who undergo skin grafts are a candidate for leech therapy. Those who have AIDS or HIV are not recommended to undertake medicinal leech therapy because it could put them at risk of bacterial sepsis. Likewise, patients who take immunosuppressive drugs are also not advised to undergo leech therapy due to the same reason.
Although the risk of acquiring an infection is small, patients with skin grafts that have become unsuccessful are not always given leech therapy.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Something good about leeches
CATCH some mother leeches and sell them to a new breeding farm looking to meet its full capacity. You can do that in Penang where farmers Muhamad Mohd Ali and Badrul Hisham Ramli have set up 50 breeding ponds.
Each leech can fetch you RM1 or more, de-pending on size.
Just dip your leg into a murky swamp and wait for the leeches to latch on, said one young man, who recently brought some samples to show Badrul.
The farm in Penaga, North Seberang Prai, breeds the big variety which the Malays called lintah, seven to 12cm long when fully mature and up to 30cm when they stretch.
Worldwide, there are 600 species of leeches and Malaysia has six species. The farm breeds mainly leeches with the green or brown belly, said Badrul.
Theirs currently is the biggest indoor leech farm in the state, using cement and poly tanks, versus the outdoor farm that uses ground ponds.
“We require 30,000 breeder leeches to breed at full capacity and now have some 16,000 of them. Each of the 50 ponds can eventually hold up to 30,000 leeches,” he added.
They feed on plankton growing in the ponds and suck on eel’s blood twice a week for additional protein.
“We put into the ponds powdered fertilizer that contains microbes to encourage plankton growth.
 |
In demand: Badrul (left) and Muhamad inspecting some leeches at their farm. |
“Twice a week, live eels are placed in the tanks for the leeches to feed on, two eels per tank,” Badrul said, adding that the dead eels are then made into eel oil.
Leeches live up to two years and lay eggs three to four times during their lifespan.
He added the farm obtains expert help from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu and information scoured from the Internet. It also has its own website at www.arowanavis.com.
The local and international demand for lee-ches is high, mainly for medical reasons and beauty care.
Currently, the farm is producing just for the local market, supplying breeder leeches to other start-out farms and making leech oil.
 |
Wriggly creatures: Mature leeches ready for breeding. |
Muhamad and Badrul also conduct leech farming courses for small groups, helping others keen to start similar businesses. After all, they got their start from attending a similar course advertised in the newspaper about a year ago.
Friday, April 3, 2009
The Biology of leeches
 Biology. Leeches are annelids or segmented worms, and although closely related to the earthworms, are anatomically and behaviourally more specialised. The bodies of all leeches are divided into the same number of segments (34), with a powerful clinging sucker at each end (although the anterior, or front sucker can be very small). Body shape is variable, but to some extent depends on the degree to which their highly muscular bodies are contracted. The mouth is in the anterior sucker and the anus is on the dorsal surface (top) just in front of the rear sucker. Leeches usually have three jaws and make a Y-shaped incision. The Australian land leech has only two jaws and makes a V-shaped incision. Australian leeches can vary in size from about 7 mm long to as much as 200 mm when extended. |
| Different Types. Leeches are grouped according to the different ways they feed. One group (the jawed leeches or Gnatbobdellida) have jaws armed with teeth with which they bite the host. The blood is prevented from clotting by production of a non-enzymatic secretion called hirudin. The land leech commonly encountered by bushwalkers is included in this group.  Jaw drawings, after M. Stachowitsch The Invertebrates - an Illustrated Glossary A second group (the jawless leeches or Rhyncobdellida) insert a needle-like protrusion called a proboscis into the body of the host and secrete an enzyme, hemetin which dissolves clots once they have formed. Leeches which live on body fluids of worms and small freshwater snails possess such an apparatus. A third group, (the worm leeches or Pharyngobdellida) have no jaws or teeth and swallow the prey whole. Its food consists of small invertebrates. |
| Respiration. Respiration takes place through the body wall, and a slow undulating movement observed in some leeches is said to assist gaseous exchange. Aquatic leeches tend to move to the surface when they find themselves in water of low oxygen content. As a fall in atmospheric pressure results in a small decrease in dissolved oxygen concentrations, rising leeches in a jar of water provided nineteenth century weather forecasters with a simple way of predicting bad weather. |
| Sense Organs . Sensory organs on the head and body surface enable a leech to detect changes in light intensity, temperature, and vibration. Chemical receptors on the head provide a sense of smell and there may be one or more pairs of eyes. The number of eyes and their arrangement can be of some use in Identification, however to properly identify a leech, dissection is required. The Rhyncobdellids are capable of dramatic colour changes, and although not an attempt at camouflage, the significance of this behaviour is unknown. |
| Reproduction. As hermaphrodites, leeches have both male and female sex organs. Like the earthworms they also have a clitellum, a region of thickened skin which is only obvious during the reproductive period. Mating involves the intertwining of bodies where each deposits sperm in the others' clitellar area. Rhyncobdellids have no penis but produce sharp packages of sperm which are forced through the body wall.  The sperm then make their way to the ovaries where fertilisation takes place. The clitellum secretes a tough gelatinous cocoon which contains nutrients, and it is in this that the eggs are deposited. The leech shrugs itself free of the cocoon, sealing it as it passes over the head. The cocoon is either buried or attached to a rock, log or leaf and dries to a foamy crust. After several weeks or months, the young emerge as miniature adults. Studies show that the cocoons are capable of surviving the digestive system of a duck. Leeches die after one or two bouts of reproduction. |
| Feeding. Most leeches are sanguivorous, that is they feed as blood sucking parasites on preferred hosts. If the preferred food is not available most leeches will feed on other classes of host. Some feed on the blood of humans and other mammals, while others parasitise fish, frogs, turtles or birds. Some leeches will even take a meal from other sanguivorous leeches which may die after the attack. Sanguivorous leeches can ingest several times their own weight in blood at one meal. After feeding the leech retires to a dark spot to digest its meal. Digestion is slow and this enables the leech to survive during very long fasting periods (up to several months). |
| Foraging - How does a leech go about searching for a blood meal? A hungry leech is very responsive to light and mechanical stimuli. It tends to change position frequently, and explore by head movement and body waving. It also assumes an alert posture, extending to full length and remaining motionless. This is thought to maximise the function of the sensory structures in the skin. In response to disturbances by an approaching host, the leech will commence "inchworm crawling", continuing in a trial and error way until the anterior sucker touches the host and attaches. Aquatic leeches are more likely to display this "pursuit" behaviour, while common land leeches often accidentally attach to a host. |
| The Bite . When a jawed leech bites it holds the sucker in place by making its body rigid. Using its semi circular and many toothed jaws like minute saws, it then makes an incision in the skin and excretes a mucous from the nephropores (external openings from the kidney-like organs). This helps the sucker to adhere. A salivary secretion containing the anticoagulant and a histamine floods the wound and the leech relaxes its body to allow the blood to be ingested. This mixture allows the blood to flow and also prevents clotting once inside the leech. A bacterium in the gut of the leech assists the digestion of the blood, and it has been shown that the type of bacterium varies with the type of host on which the leech feeds. The bacterium also prevents growth of other bacteria which may cause the ingested blood to putrefy.  |
| Habitat. Most leeches are freshwater animals, but many terrestrial and marine species occur. Land leeches are common on the ground or in low foliage in wet rain forests. In drier forests they may be found on the ground in seepage moistened places. Most do not enter water and cannot swim, but can survive periods of immersion. In dry weather, some species burrow in the soil where they can survive for many months even in a total lack of environmental water. In these conditions the body is contracted dry and rigid, the suckers not distinguishable, and the skin completely dry. Within ten minutes of sprinkling with a few drops of water, these leeches emerge, fully active. Freshwater leeches prefer to live in still or slowly flowing waters, but specimens have been collected from fast flowing streams. Some species are considered amphibious as they have been observed in both terrestrial and aquatic habitats. |
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Question..........................
Leech therapy
My daughter (7 y.o) has some minor problems such as an attention deficit, insomnia, headache. And my wife decided to take our girl to the hirudotherapy. Our daughter is glad, and my wife claims that it helps. And they brought these full leeches home, they are like pets now. My wife and my daughters are crazy about pet animals including kinds of creepy crawlers (but for me these thick leeches are rather disgusting).
Well, the qtn is
Have you ever tried leech therapy?
Is it popular in your area?
My daughter (7 y.o) has some minor problems such as an attention deficit, insomnia, headache. And my wife decided to take our girl to the hirudotherapy. Our daughter is glad, and my wife claims that it helps. And they brought these full leeches home, they are like pets now. My wife and my daughters are crazy about pet animals including kinds of creepy crawlers (but for me these thick leeches are rather disgusting).
Well, the qtn is
Have you ever tried leech therapy?
Is it popular in your area?
Operation Beauty: Moore leeches!
Operation Beauty
Demi Moore covers herself in blood-sucking leeches to keep her skin looking fresh.
The actress -- who, at 45, is 15 years older than husband Ashton Kutcher -- is a huge fan of a detox treatment which involves the unpleasant creatures being placed on her body.
"I was in Austria doing a cleanse and part of the treatment was leech therapy," she told David Letterman.
"These aren't just swamp leeches though -- we are talking about highly trained medical leeches. We're talking high-level bloodsuckers."
Presley victimized
Priscilla Presley has confirmed she was operated on by an unlicensed cosmetic surgeon.
Presley -- ex-wife of Elvis Presley -- was injected with industrial-grade silicone used to lubricate automobile parts in 2003.
Dr. Daniel Serrano, who eventually was jailed for his illegal surgery techniques, performed the procedure on the Naked Gun actress.
Presley's representative said: "Priscilla Presley was one of many documented victims of Dr. Serrano. Ms. Presley dealt with this matter years ago and everything is well."
Tisdale says no to surgery
High School Musical star Ashley Tisdale has ruled out having more plastic surgery in the future.
The 22-year-old actress -- who had a nose job last November to correct a deviated septum and smooth out two bumps stemming from a past fracture --dismissed reports of further procedures, saying she is not planning to go under the knife again.
She told People magazine: "People are saying I had another nose job and I did not. That's ridiculous. I was away in New Zealand filming a movie."
Monday, March 30, 2009
Leeching onto Success
If Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin’s warning last week that Russia’s recent economic bump will most likely be short lived got you down, don’t fret there are some economic spheres besides McDonald’s that are going strong. As Time reports, leech farming is a “flourishing industry” and “a bright spot in a Russian economy.” That’s right, leeches. Not the oligarch kind that sucks wealth like a like a crack addict hits the pipe. The slimy, waterborne, blood sucking kind, or as known by its Latin moniker, Hirudo medicinalis.
Russia is leech producing central, churning out 10 times more blood suckers that any other country. The base of operations is the International Medical Leech Center at Udelnaya, southeast of Moscow. The Institute has a long history. Beginning in 1937, Udelnaya was the center of Soviet leech production. It’s unknown what their production quota was in Stalin’s Third Five Year Plan (1938-1941), but the Center produced about 3 million leeches a year. The number is evidence of how widespread leeches were used in Soviet medicine. Every Soviet pharmacy was required to carry a stock of at least 25.
The use of leeches continues to be a sound medical practice. According to Time,
[The Center] is now taking advantage of the growing popularity of leech therapy, also known as Hirudotherapy, around the world. Demi Moore last year spoke about the cleansing effects of leeches; Britain’s National Health Service buys 50,000 bloodsuckers every year; the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved leech therapy in 2004 because they proved beneficial in increasing blood circulation for patients who have had skin grafts.
Today the center sells the leeches to plastic surgeons, who put them on wounds to reduce the chance of scarring, to dentists, who apply them on gums to reduce swelling, and even to gynecologists, who use them to treat sexually transmitted diseases (Yes. You imagine right.). The oral cavity of the leech is rich with an anticoagulant, which allows the animal to feed continuously on blood but which also delivers the anti-clotting substance more effectively to the area of a wound than would a small injection puncture. Indeed, leeches are used very much like syringes. After a leech is used on a patient it has to be killed. “It’s like a disposable syringe, it isn’t good sanitary practice to use it twice,” says Gennady Nikonov the director of the Leech Center.
Perhaps strangest of all are the emotional relationships technicians at the Leech Center have formed with their leeches. Their jars require constant cleaning because, as Elena Titova, a 25 year veteran at the Center, explains, “Leeches urinate non-stop for three days after they are fed. You have to clean their jars very frequently during this time; otherwise they poison themselves with their own waste.” The staff feeds its stock “certified cattle blood” except on holidays when they treat the leeches to veal blood “as a treat.” According to Nikonov, raising leeches has a gender component. Women are more nurturing than men, and since each employee is responsible for their own crop, some organize their vacations around feeding so no one fiddles with their leeches. “Leeches are very attached to their owners,” Titova believes.
Besides their use in surgeries and other procedures, leeches are also the central ingredient of Nikonov’s skin care line, Bio Energy:
Some of the leeches go into Nikonov’s own skin care range “Bio Energy,” which is made at the Center. The most expensive product, an anti-aging cream, contains dried, freshly-hatched larvae and retails for 47,000 rubles ($1,300) for 15 grams. The idea for the cosmetic range came after the collapse of Communism, when pharmacies were no longer required to sell leeches. “We had no money and the staff would go several months without wages,” says Nikonov. “We had too many leeches and we wanted to try and create something exciting and profitable.” Nikonov explains that the deconstructed leeches become ingredients in a cream, helping it the skin’s surface to improve circulation of oxygen, fats and protein. All this, he claims, leads to younger looking skin.
The biggest export market for the Center’s leeches is France. Nikonov, however, says that he remains very selective about his clientele. “We are careful about who we export them to,” he says. “I know in certain cuisines people put the leech on a goose. They wait until it gets fat on the goose blood and then fry the leech like it’s a sausage. This is considered a delicacy. I feel sorry for the leech. They should not be used this way.”
Okay . . . I guess it works if you work it.
Fresh blood
Leeches: Fresh Blood for Russia's Economy
After you've already eaten, read below to find out what the Udelnaya Medical Leech Center and French cuisine have in common
Udelnaya is a sleepy town southeast of Moscow, full of muddy roads lined with brightly painted wooden houses. Behind a frozen stream there is one large brick building that looks a little out of place. Inside are hundreds of rows of jars exuding an unpleasant smell. They are full of Hirudo medicinalis, more commonly known as leeches. But few locals are turning up their noses at the presence of so many blood-sucking annelids. Leeches are the flourishing industry in Udelnaya, a bright spot in a Russian economy hurtling into recession.
Russia breeds 10 times more leeches than the rest of the world combined, most of them raised at the International Medical Leech Center at Udelnaya. It is an institution that has existed since 1937, producing 3 million leeches annually. It is now taking advantage of the growing popularity of leech therapy, also known as Hirudotherapy, around the world. Demi Moore last year spoke about the cleansing effects of leeches; Britain's National Health Service buys 50,000 bloodsuckers every year; the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved leech therapy in 2004 because they proved beneficial in increasing blood circulation for patients who have had skin grafts. (See a brief history of leech lore.)
Today the center sells the leeches to plastic surgeons, who put them on wounds to reduce the chance of scarring, to dentists, who apply them on gums to reduce swelling, and even to gynecologists, who use them to treat sexually transmitted diseases (Yes. You imagine right.). The oral cavity of the leech is rich with an anticoagulant, which allows the animal to feed continuously on blood but which also delivers the anti-clotting substance more effectively to the area of a wound than would a small injection puncture. Indeed, leeches are used very much like syringes. After a leech is used on a patient it has to be killed. "It's like a disposable syringe, it isn't good sanitary practice to use it twice," says Gennady Nikonov the director of the Leech Center. (See 10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now.)
Retailing for about 100 rubles each (or close to $3), Russians can buy them at wholesale at Udelnaya for half the price. For most Russians, medicinal leeches are not looked upon as exotic or primitive. Under Communist rule, leeches were readily available for sound therapeautic purposes. "It was mandatory for each pharmacy to have 25 leeches in stock at a time," says Nikonov, who has worked at the Center for 19 years. He is very proud that the rest of the world is now catching up to Russia. (Check out the story of a modern-day exorcist.)
Still, leeches aren't pretty. And neither do they smell nice. The odor from the Center's laboratory is like stale meat in a dirty restroom. It can be detected from far away and becomes close to unbearable when approaching the jars full of leeches — all various hues of red and yellow depending on when they were last fed. "Leeches urinate non-stop for three days after they are fed," explains Elena Titova, the head of laboratory production, who has worked at the center for 25 years. "You have to clean their jars very frequently during this time; otherwise they poison themselves with their own waste."
The other component of the stench is blood. "We feed them certified cattle blood," said Nikonov. "And on national holidays we give them veal blood as a treat." For Nikonov, who was trained as a chemist, breeding the leeches is an art. "It looks like it's just a jar full of water, but there are millions of chemical processes going on."
Nikonov believes women are more nurturing than men when it comes to the creatures; and, at the laboratory, each employee raises her own batch of leeches from start to finish. "That way if something goes wrong and thousands of leeches die no one can blame anyone else," says Titova. According to her, leeches are very attached to their owners. She organizes her vacation around their feeding times so that no one else interferes with her lot. When a leech is about to be sold, it has to be starved for three months to be at its most effective.
Some of the leeches go into Nikonov's own skin care range "Bio Energy," which is made at the Center. The most expensive product, an anti-aging cream, contains dried, freshly-hatched larvae and retails for 47,000 rubles ($1,300) for 15 grams. The idea for the cosmetic range came after the collapse of Communism, when pharmacies were no longer required to sell leeches. "We had no money and the staff would go several months without wages," says Nikonov. "We had too many leeches and we wanted to try and create something exciting and profitable." Nikonov explains that the deconstructed leeches become ingredients in a cream, helping it the skin's surfce to improve circulation of oxygen, fats and protein. All this, he claims, leads to younger looking skin. (See pictures of Russia's patriotic youth camps.)
As if foie gras, frogs legs, and horsemeat on the menu aren't gross enough ... makes me wonder about the French ...
The biggest export market for the Center's leeches is France. Nikonov, however, says that he remains very selective about his clientele. "We are careful about who we export them to," he says. "I know in certain cuisines people put the leech on a goose. They wait until it gets fat on the goose blood and then fry the leech like it's a sausage
. This is considered a delicacy . I feel sorry for the leech. They should not be used this way."
After you've already eaten, read below to find out what the Udelnaya Medical Leech Center and French cuisine have in common
Udelnaya is a sleepy town southeast of Moscow, full of muddy roads lined with brightly painted wooden houses. Behind a frozen stream there is one large brick building that looks a little out of place. Inside are hundreds of rows of jars exuding an unpleasant smell. They are full of Hirudo medicinalis, more commonly known as leeches. But few locals are turning up their noses at the presence of so many blood-sucking annelids. Leeches are the flourishing industry in Udelnaya, a bright spot in a Russian economy hurtling into recession.
Russia breeds 10 times more leeches than the rest of the world combined, most of them raised at the International Medical Leech Center at Udelnaya. It is an institution that has existed since 1937, producing 3 million leeches annually. It is now taking advantage of the growing popularity of leech therapy, also known as Hirudotherapy, around the world. Demi Moore last year spoke about the cleansing effects of leeches; Britain's National Health Service buys 50,000 bloodsuckers every year; the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved leech therapy in 2004 because they proved beneficial in increasing blood circulation for patients who have had skin grafts. (See a brief history of leech lore.)
Today the center sells the leeches to plastic surgeons, who put them on wounds to reduce the chance of scarring, to dentists, who apply them on gums to reduce swelling, and even to gynecologists, who use them to treat sexually transmitted diseases (Yes. You imagine right.). The oral cavity of the leech is rich with an anticoagulant, which allows the animal to feed continuously on blood but which also delivers the anti-clotting substance more effectively to the area of a wound than would a small injection puncture. Indeed, leeches are used very much like syringes. After a leech is used on a patient it has to be killed. "It's like a disposable syringe, it isn't good sanitary practice to use it twice," says Gennady Nikonov the director of the Leech Center. (See 10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now.)
Retailing for about 100 rubles each (or close to $3), Russians can buy them at wholesale at Udelnaya for half the price. For most Russians, medicinal leeches are not looked upon as exotic or primitive. Under Communist rule, leeches were readily available for sound therapeautic purposes. "It was mandatory for each pharmacy to have 25 leeches in stock at a time," says Nikonov, who has worked at the Center for 19 years. He is very proud that the rest of the world is now catching up to Russia. (Check out the story of a modern-day exorcist.)
Still, leeches aren't pretty. And neither do they smell nice. The odor from the Center's laboratory is like stale meat in a dirty restroom. It can be detected from far away and becomes close to unbearable when approaching the jars full of leeches — all various hues of red and yellow depending on when they were last fed. "Leeches urinate non-stop for three days after they are fed," explains Elena Titova, the head of laboratory production, who has worked at the center for 25 years. "You have to clean their jars very frequently during this time; otherwise they poison themselves with their own waste."
The other component of the stench is blood. "We feed them certified cattle blood," said Nikonov. "And on national holidays we give them veal blood as a treat." For Nikonov, who was trained as a chemist, breeding the leeches is an art. "It looks like it's just a jar full of water, but there are millions of chemical processes going on."
Nikonov believes women are more nurturing than men when it comes to the creatures; and, at the laboratory, each employee raises her own batch of leeches from start to finish. "That way if something goes wrong and thousands of leeches die no one can blame anyone else," says Titova. According to her, leeches are very attached to their owners. She organizes her vacation around their feeding times so that no one else interferes with her lot. When a leech is about to be sold, it has to be starved for three months to be at its most effective.
Some of the leeches go into Nikonov's own skin care range "Bio Energy," which is made at the Center. The most expensive product, an anti-aging cream, contains dried, freshly-hatched larvae and retails for 47,000 rubles ($1,300) for 15 grams. The idea for the cosmetic range came after the collapse of Communism, when pharmacies were no longer required to sell leeches. "We had no money and the staff would go several months without wages," says Nikonov. "We had too many leeches and we wanted to try and create something exciting and profitable." Nikonov explains that the deconstructed leeches become ingredients in a cream, helping it the skin's surfce to improve circulation of oxygen, fats and protein. All this, he claims, leads to younger looking skin. (See pictures of Russia's patriotic youth camps.)
As if foie gras, frogs legs, and horsemeat on the menu aren't gross enough ... makes me wonder about the French ...
The biggest export market for the Center's leeches is France. Nikonov, however, says that he remains very selective about his clientele. "We are careful about who we export them to," he says. "I know in certain cuisines people put the leech on a goose. They wait until it gets fat on the goose blood and then fry the leech like it's a sausage
. This is considered a delicacy . I feel sorry for the leech. They should not be used this way."
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Fresh Blood for Russia's Economy
Leeches is new trend market
Leeches are bred in a factory near Moscow.
Marina Kamenev for TIME
Udelnaya is a sleepy town southeast of Moscow, full of muddy roads lined with brightly painted wooden houses. Behind a frozen stream there is one large brick building that looks a little out of place. Inside are hundreds of rows of jars exuding an unpleasant smell. They are full of Hirudo medicinalis, more commonly known as leeches. But few locals are turning up their noses at the presence of so many blood-sucking annelids. Leeches are the flourishing industry in Udelnaya, a bright spot in a Russian economy hurtling into recession.
Russia breeds 10 times more leeches than the rest of the world combined, most of them raised at the International Medical Leech Center at Udelnaya. It is an institution that has existed since 1937, producing 3 million leeches annually. It is now taking advantage of the growing popularity of leech therapy, also known as Hirudotherapy, around the world. Demi Moore last year spoke about the cleansing effects of leeches; Britain's National Health Service buys 50,000 bloodsuckers every year; the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved leech therapy in 2004 because they proved beneficial in increasing blood circulation for patients who have had skin grafts. (See a brief history of leech lore.)
Today the center sells the leeches to plastic surgeons, who put them on wounds to reduce the chance of scarring, to dentists, who apply them on gums to reduce swelling, and even to gynecologists, who use them to treat sexually transmitted diseases (Yes. You imagine right.). The oral cavity of the leech is rich with an anticoagulant, which allows the animal to feed continuously on blood but which also delivers the anti-clotting substance more effectively to the area of a wound than would a small injection puncture. Indeed, leeches are used very much like syringes. After a leech is used on a patient it has to be killed. "It's like a disposable syringe, it isn't good sanitary practice to use it twice," says Gennady Nikonov the director of the Leech Center. (See 10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now.)
Retailing for about 100 rubles each (or close to $3), Russians can buy them at wholesale at Udelnaya for half the price. For most Russians, medicinal leeches are not looked upon as exotic or primitive. Under Communist rule, leeches were readily available for sound therapeautic purposes. "It was mandatory for each pharmacy to have 25 leeches in stock at a time," says Nikonov, who has worked at the Center for 19 years. He is very proud that the rest of the world is now catching up to Russia. (Check out the story of a modern-day exorcist.)
Still, leeches aren't pretty. And neither do they smell nice. The odor from the Center's laboratory is like stale meat in a dirty restroom. It can be detected from far away and becomes close to unbearable when approaching the jars full of leeches — all various hues of red and yellow depending on when they were last fed. "Leeches urinate non-stop for three days after they are fed," explains Elena Titova, the head of laboratory production, who has worked at the center for 25 years. "You have to clean their jars very frequently during this time; otherwise they poison themselves with their own waste."
The other component of the stench is blood. "We feed them certified cattle blood," said Nikonov. "And on national holidays we give them veal blood as a treat." For Nikonov, who was trained as a chemist, breeding the leeches is an art. "It looks like it's just a jar full of water, but there are millions of chemical processes going on."
Nikonov believes women are more nurturing than men when it comes to the creatures; and, at the laboratory, each employee raises her own batch of leeches from start to finish. "That way if something goes wrong and thousands of leeches die no one can blame anyone else," says Titova. According to her, leeches are very attached to their owners. She organizes her vacation around their feeding times so that no one else interferes with her lot. When a leech is about to be sold, it has to be starved for three months to be at its most effective.
Friday, March 27, 2009
The return of the leech
A medical marvel rises from both the swamp and the pages of history.
It sounds like a scene from a cheesy horror movie. A patient awakes from surgery to find a slimy leech, big as your thumb, feasting on the tender flesh of his nose. Yet that really happened five years ago to William Rambo, a retired electrical engineering professor who now lives just outside Denver. 
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE
Rambo didn’t panic because his surgeon, Richard Goode of Stanford University Medical Center, had briefed him on the benefits of the fabled bloodsuckers. Rambo had lost most of his nose to a series of skin cancer surgeries, so Goode used a flap of skin from Rambo’s scalp to rebuild the nose. When the flap developed a common complication—insufficient blood drainage that can kill the tissue—Goode called for leeches. Feeding in shifts, about 20 leeches drained the pent-up blood and saved Rambo’s reconstructed nose. Rambo, now 85, says two good things came from playing host to the little vampires. “I got my own room in the hospital,” he says, “and I got a fine new nose.”
Thousands of patients share his admiration for the leeches’ unique talents. Long dismissed as quackery, the use of leeches has returned to the medical mainstream over the past 20 years. Plastic and reconstructive surgeons depend on leeches, predominantly Hirudo medicinalis, to drain excess blood and prevent clotting after operations to reattach severed fingers, lips, ears, or other body parts. Surgeons may also turn to leeches after they transplant a flap of skin from one part of the body to another, as in Rambo’s case, or perform other kinds of plastic surgery. Without leeching, blood clots often kill the repaired or transplanted tissue.
Leeches provide other benefits as well. Scientists are working to harvest the bounty of chemicals synthesized by these cousins of the common earthworm. One leech-made molecule, the powerful anticoagulant hirudin, won FDA approval in 1998. Medical researchers are now testing hirudin’s usefulness against angina and heart attacks, and other chemicals from leech saliva are under study.
Back from Oblivion
Leeching has a long and grisly history. The documented use of leeches in medicine stretches back to Greece in the 2nd century B.C.E. The bloodsuckers remained the physician’s standby throughout the Middle Ages—in fact, the modern word “leech” derives from the Old English word for “physician”— but during the 18th and 19th centuries, the practice boomed to a point that has been called “leechmania”. Believing that excess blood caused disease, doctors prescribed leeches for almost every ailment, from headaches to hemorrhoids. A leech enthusiast might treat tonsillitis, for example, by securing a leech with thread, lowering it into the patient’s throat, and allowing it to feed on the swollen glands. To the tremendous relief of patients, scientists discredited the rationale for leeching—that blood loss was therapeutic—and the practice fell out of favor in the late 1800s.
So why did doctors resurrect this antique treatment after almost 100 years? “There’s a very specific scenario when they are perfect,” says surgeon Matthew Concannon of the University of Missouri, Columbia, who began using leeches in 1992. The return of leeches coincided with the development of techniques for microvascular surgery.
Surgeons worked out a method for stitching bisected arteries and veins together under a microscope, thus making it possible to reattach severed tissues and to transplant skin flaps. However, many of these operations failed because of a problem called venous congestion, inadequate blood drainage from the reattached or transplanted tissue. It is fairly easy to rejoin severed arteries that carry blood into the finger, says plastic surgeon Jeffrey Friedman of Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine, but it is difficult to find and reconnect the veins that drain blood from the finger. As a result, even the most skilled and careful surgeon may not be able to link all the veins, and blood will begin to pool within the finger. Unless this buildup is relieved, clots may form and cut off blood flow into the finger, eventually killing it. Swelling and a blue or purple color signal venous congestion. When these symptoms appear, leeches slither to the rescue. (For several graphic examples, visit Leeches USA.)
Serving as a substitute vein, a leech draws off blood before it can coagulate, thus keeping the tissue alive until new veins grow—usually within 5–6 days. Over the years, doctors have unsuccessfully tried a host of seemingly more advanced treatments to achieve the same thing, from blood thinners like heparin to slicing the skin to promote bleeding. “Nothing is as effective as a leech,” says Donald Mackay of Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine who has been prescribing leeches since 1988.
Besides their blood-draining skills, leeches have other virtues. Although a leech only feeds for 20–30 min, it injects anticlotting chemicals that can keep blood leaking from the wound for hours. Thus the benefits of a leech bite continue long after the animal has dropped off. Leeches are also cheap to buy ($7.50 each) and easy to maintain. They can survive for months in a dilute saline solution without feeding.
Of course, roving annelids with a taste for blood do pose some unusual problems for doctors, nurses, and patients. For one thing, they must be monitored carefully, because after feeding they will seek a dark place to rest and digest. Roaming leeches can enter a patient’s nostrils, mouth, or other orifices. Two of Rambo’s leeches escaped when he fell asleep—nurses later found them scaling the wall of his room. As they drink, leeches can also introduce bacteria into the patient’s bloodstream. To prevent infection, most surgeons dose their patients with broad-spectrum antibiotics such as cephalosporin or ciprofloxacin. Leeches may also cause prolonged bleeding that necessitates blood transfusions. As with any other medical procedure, the decision to use leeches involves weighing the costs and benefits, says Mackay.
The Painless Bite
Ultimately, of course, patients make the call. You might think that squeamish patients would be a big obstacle to leech use. Not so. Almost no one refuses leeches out of fear or disgust. Together, Friedman, Mackay, and Concannon have more than 30 years of experience with leeches. Of the hundreds of patients they have operated on, only one refused to be leeched. There aren’t many options, says Friedman. For someone whose finger has just been reattached, he says, the choice is brutally simple: “We can cut your finger off again or use a leech.”
However, Mackay has seen a much more positive reaction. Patients don’t just endure leeches the way they might endure, say, a colonoscopy. They like leeches, he asserts. “Patients and nurses become tolerant and quite fond of them,” he says. Some of his patients have even given their leeches nicknames. Rambo concurs. He had no qualms about the treatment and enjoys reminiscing about his two leeching sessions in 1996. The bite was painless, he recalls, and the leeches were unobtrusive, “though you can feel them moving around.” His take on the episode: “It was fascinating.”
Learning from Dr. Leech
Many of the benefits of leech therapy derive from the chemicals that the animals secrete into the wound. Leeches are excellent chemists, manufacturing a number of molecules that keep their meal of blood flowing. The most-studied of these is hirudin, a small protein composed of 65 amino acids. Hirudin is a potent anticoagulant because it inhibits the protein thrombin, a key molecule in the cascade that leads to blood clotting. Scientists are still exploring the possible applications of hirudin. One promising use is as an alternative to heparin, the standard drug for treating blood clots. The FDA approved a recombinant form of hirudin, known as lepirudin, for patients who suffer complications from heparin.
Lepirudin may be superior to heparin for preventing heart attacks, though the jury is still out on this question. For example, a study reported in the Lancet showed that angina and heart attack patients who were treated with lepirudin were about 14% less likely to die or have a subsequent heart attack than patients who received heparin. However, the same study also found a 71% greater risk of bleeding in the patients treated with lepirudin. Because lepirudin is more expensive than heparin and provides only a modest advantage, its use may be limited. However, further studies of leech saliva may turn up new anticlotting chemicals or other potentially valuable molecules.
Future Leeches?
They’ve already been booted from medicine once and have an evil reputation—thanks mainly to movies like The African Queen, in which hardboiled Humphrey Bogart starts blubbering when attacked by a few leeches. But for the moment, the leech’s position as surgeon’s helper seems secure. Nothing else works as well. Perhaps the biggest future threat will be an artificial leech—several types have already been invented, and others are under development. However, it’ll be a huge challenge to make a device that’s as effective and cheap as the real thing. Concannon isn’t impressed by the models he’s seen so far. “I haven’t run across one that makes me think, ‘Let’s replace the leech.’”
Maggots and Leeches
Back in the 19th century, leeches and maggots were considered invaluable therapies for wound care, but they fell out of favor as new therapies came along. Today, however, these organisms are finding a place in the modern arsenal of interventions for non-healing wounds.
Reducing Venous Congestion
The renewed interest in medicinal leeches, which were FDA-approved as a medical device in 2004, comes from the plastic surgery arena. As physicians developed microsurgical techniques for reattachment or transplantation of fingers, toes and ears, they were stymied by venous congestion at the surgical site that led to swelling and prevented healing.
"As leeches bite and suck blood from an area, they leave behind an anticoagulating chemical that produces bleeding, serves as a local anesthetic and acts as a local vasodilator [with some antibiotic properties]," said Sharon Mendez, RN, CWS, Holy Family Hospital, Spokane, WA, and an executive board member of the BioTherapeutics Education & Research Foundation. "Those actions reduce venous congestion in areas you don't want compressed. Say a patient has had neck surgery and is developing pressure on the jugular vein. You would place leeches where the congestion is occurring, which may be on the more vascular side of the surgical site or on the gravity side."
Mendez employed leech therapy early in her career, only to see the modality fall into disuse. In response to interest from local plastic surgeons, she is developing a protocol to introduce this therapy at her hospital.
"There are a number of specialty surgeons who find leeches extremely effective for patients who have had head and neck procedures, finger reattachments, flaps or grafts," she said. "The leech removes a little bit of the blood that's compressing the site, and then there's oozing of a significant amount of blood over the next 10-12 hours."
Debridement Therapy
Maggot debridement therapy (MDT), which employs sterile maggot larvae, is FDA-approved for chronic, non-healing wounds with necrotic tissue, such as pressure ulcers, diabetic foot ulcers, venous stasis ulcers, post-surgical wounds and trauma wounds.
MDT "is not the first choice for these wounds - most wounds will heal well no matter what you use - but I would consider using maggot therapy for wounds whose anatomy would require extensive and complicated surgery to access," said Ronald A. Sherman, MD, MSc, DTM&H, assistant researcher, University of California, Irvine. "Surgical debridement is "not the best choice in many wounds because these patients are poor surgical risks or have poor blood flow and removal of too much viable tissue could be a big problem."
MDT also is appropriate for non-healing wounds in patients allergic to certain types of wound care products, or for open areas that fail to respond.
"For example, a wound may not respond to topical and/or systemic antibiotics, or to an enzymatic debrider," Sherman said. "Let's say you've been surgically debriding the wound at the bedside week after week, and the necrotic tissue continues to re-accumulate. That might be the time to think about MDT."
Maggot larvae secrete digestive enzymes into the wound bed, and then crawl around the wound to locate nutrients in dissolving tissues. First "the maggots will concentrate on areas of moist tissue because that's where the liquid accumulates, and they drink it up," Sherman explained. "But they can and will debride eschar if there are enough maggots present."
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The Power of Leech Oil
Leech Oil
Minyak Lintah Tapa PLUS (Tapa Leech Oil)
Minyak Lintah Tapa PLUS -has been meditated for 40 days and 40 nights in the green young coconut according to the traditional herbs recipe, old books and ancient Malay heritage. It is very suitable to be applied to those having problems in sexual relationship, those wanting to increase the pleasure in sex and those who want to improve their private parts for….
ADVANTAGES OF MINYAK LINTAH TAPA
Big, Long, Stiff
Long Lasting
Increase pleasure in sexual intercourse
Strengten penis
Recover elasticity of urinary tract and seminal tract
Recover 6,666 penis veins
Smoother seminal ejaculation
Big, Long, Stiff and pleasure just like your teen years, massage your private part (penis) for 40 days to get maximum result. Practise these rules confidently and correctly
“Apply Always Every Morning And Night”
PENIS MASSAGE AS BELOW
Massage from the base to the head of the penis on the right and left side. Press the skin at the base of the penis if the skin is loose. Repeat 5 times.
Massage from the base of the anus to the base of the testicles.Repeat 7 times.
Press on the two parts of ring hole with two fingers slowly. Repeat 11 times.
Massage the inner part of the thighs from the base of thOe testicles to the middle of the thighs and follow on to the knees. Do this 21 times.
Following at the base of the penis and massage out left and right up and down for 7 times.
Right hand holding the penis through under the right thigh, straighten the leg bit by bit and repeat 7 times.
Use Minyak Lintah Tapa PLUS (Tapa Leech Oil) & feel the power of Leech Oil.
A lesson in leeches
After a long lay-off, leeches are back in business.
Looking like black ribbons, the leeches swim with a serpentine movement in a plastic tank full of water. The people at Artsoulist Agrotech Sdn Bhd do a brisk business of exporting farm-raised leeches to the UK for medical purposes.
Leeches were once the bright stars of an ancient medical practice when bloodletting was all the rage.The Egyptians used them, as did the Greeks and Indians, and much later medieval Europe. Physicians prescribed leeches for everything, from headaches to obesity, eye disorders to brain congestion, even mental illness!
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Special suckers: A leech hoovering up someone’s blood. |
They went out of fashion in the 1960s – but not for long.Leeches started making a comeback in the West in the 1980s, with the advent of microsurgery. They have become especially useful in plastic and reconstructive surgery for their ability to suck up excess blood and prevent blood clots, thereby helping to keep tissues alive.
For the sake of a better story, I volunteer to “host” a leech, and manage to persuade the people at Artsoulist to let me have one to experience for myself the medieval practice of bloodletting.I lift the lid and poke at one. The creature feels wet and cool, like a chilled strand of fettuccine. Hardwired to be repulsed by anything that writhes, I quickly retract my finger.
Leeches, by virtue of being slimy and wriggly, are high on my “icky” list, but I psyche myself to donate a tablespoon or two of blood to one lucky leech.“Leeches are contortionists,” says Artsoulist Agrotech executive director, Asmadi Awang, 28.
“They can stretch out till they are as slender as a toothpick,” he explains, indicating that it’s OK to tug on a leech that has stubbornly gripped onto the side of the tank.The thing is, I once accidentally “broke” an earthworm. I was terribly upset and took the pieces to a neighbour who was a nurse and insisted she put the worm back together again with a band-aid.Poor woman. Poor worm.So I shift my attention towards another and fish a nice, hungry-looking one out of the water and put it onto my arm.
The leech, thrilled that it’s in for an early lunch, humps along, its back arched like a cat on the prowl.Reaching the back of my palm, Lenny – already I have named it! – brushes its head against my skin, its 300 microscopic teeth sawing through my flesh.
I read somewhere that the leech’s saliva anaesthetises the wound area, dilates the blood vessels to increase blood flow and prevents the blood from clotting. The anaesthetic in the leech’s saliva explains why I only feel the slightest prick.
“Leeches can consume between five and 20ml of blood – 10 times their body weight in a single feeding. After two to four hours, the leech will drop off,” explains Asmadi.
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Othman Ghouse rears leeches for export to England. |
“The use of these medicinal leeches is not widespread in Malaysia, as not much research has been done. A local university is currently conducting a study, but it is still at the teething stage,” he adds.
With Lenny on my hand, I head to Malacca for my next stop – a leech farm.
Getting bitten by these medicinal leeches is an occupational hazard for Othman Ghouse, 43. He raises the Hirudo medicinalis by the thousands. The Hirudo medicinalis was cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration in June 2004 as a “medical device”.
Othman and his partner were one of the 100 outfits selected by Artsoulist Agrotech to participate in a leech breeding programme and awarded RM50,000 for capital.“My partner and I started this project in September 2007,” says Othman.
I crouch gingerly next to one of the six ponds for a closer look. On one side of the 18m x 6m pond, water lilies grow in abundance.“We plant the water lilies as it provides food and shelter for the leeches,” says Othman.
I stir the clear water with my hand, and soon a dozen or so leeches start to swim towards me like piranhas. Before they get too close, I quickly yank my hand out. Hah! But in my haste and excitement, I almost fall head first into the sandy bottom . . . and then they would have had the last laugh.
While most of us stay clear of these slimy bloodsuckers, there are those who seek them out stealthily. Othman tells me intruders have broken into a few leech farms up north in Kedah and Perak.“They can fetch up to RM60 a kilogramme, so as precaution, I recently installed fencing all around,” he says.
“Rearing leeches caught my attention because it’s something new,” says Othman.Isolated in a corner of the farm is a smaller cement pond. I peer inside and see ripples forming on the surface of the murky water. I can’t make out what’s swimming underneath, until I spot a bucketful of catfish next to it.
“So you rear catfish too?” I ask.
“No, I use the pond to store market-bought catfish that I feed to the leeches,” explains Othman.
He demonstrates by stuffing two squirming catfish into a wire cage, and dunks them into one of the ponds, using a pumping motion to agitate the water. Within minutes, the once alive and squirming catfish have been bled to death by 30 or so leeches.
I tell Othman I think it would be more humane if the catfish were let loose into the pond, then they would at least have a fighting chance and the leeches would have to work their suckers off for their meal.
“If the fish carcass floats around in the pond, it might contaminate the water. It’s easier to remove the carcass by placing the fish in a cage,” Othman says.“For now, I’m going to concentrate on breeding leeches only. They’re simple to rear compared to fish and prawn. We just have to maintain the condition of the pond so it’s similar to padi fields and swamps. We do not have to change the water, and feeding cost is minimal. On top of that, a leech breeds four times in its lifecycle,” he adds.
If farming leeches is so easy, then why are medicinal leeches raised in sterile, laboratory conditions in Britain? I ask Asmadi later.“Hirudo medicinalis is native to South-East Asia and Europe. The leeches are raised in tanks in the UK to replicate its native living condition. Researchers from a university in the UK who have studied leeches farmed in Malaysia found that our leeches contain a potent enzyme that is not available in leeches raised in the UK. They credit that to the condition of our soil,” he replies.
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Feeding frenzy. |
A trip to and from Malacca and three episodes of Prison Break later, Lenny has grown from a skinny little thing to a big round one filled with blood. But still he isn’t done with me yet. A friend offers to burn him off with a lit cigarette, but I refuse.
“Eight hours! It’s been way to long,” Asmadi tells me when I ring him up.
“Push the anterior sucker aside using your fingernail and then do the same with the posterior sucker to remove it. Try not to let the leech reattach itself,” he advises.My squeamish threshold being quite low, I decide to try a less hands-on approach. I remember Asmadi telling me leeches should be kept in purified water, so I grab a bottle of mineral water and pour a little over the leech. Thank God, it works! The leech writhes and releases its jaw, dropping into the cookie jar I hold open beneath it.
Wiping off the traces of blood on my hand reveals a Y-shaped imprint, much like a Mercedes Benz emblem. I soak some tobacco in water and dab it onto the wound (a jungle survival tip), before sealing it with gauze and plaster.As Asmadi warned me, the wound, infused with the leech’s anti-clogging enzyme continues to bleed for the next 10 hours.
“Used leeches are like syringes that can walk. In hospitals, after a single use, they are carefully disposed off by dipping them in alcohol to stop diseases carried in the blood like hepatitis A and AIDS from spreading,” reveals Asmadi.I wonder if the animal rights activists are outraged, so I log onto the PETA web site. Oddly enough, there isn’t a single mention of medicinal leeches on their website, nor is there a photo of Alicia Silverstone standing naked in a swamp covered in leeches.
But we have a bond, Lenny and I, so I can’t bring myself to terminate him. He now lives in an aquarium on a table next to my bed. That should keep my sister out of my room.
Leech-In the Modern Prospect Medicine
Leech Therapy Against Arthritis Pain
Now, in a study lead by Dr. Gustav J. Dobos from Kliniken Essen-Mitte, found that leech saliva contains anti-inflammatory substances and other chemicals, which could help relieve symptoms of arthritis.In a study of patients with knee arthritis, Dobos’ team compared a single treatment with 4 to 6 leeches with that of a 28-day regimen of topical diclofenac-a common treatment for arthritis.
Leeches were applied to painful points of the affected knees of 24 patients and left in place for about 70 minutes, until they detached by themselves.After 7 days, pain scores had improved to a much greater extent in the leeches group than in the diclofenac group.Moreover, benefits in function, stiffness and total arthritis symptoms were maintained through 91 days of follow-up, the report indicates.
Wow, how’s that?! Leeches better than topical diclofenac! I guess, if you aren’t queasy about having leeches hanging on your knees and ankles. I will be queasy, believe me. Especially that as I child I was told to stay away from leeches. Until now, I am not scared of spiders and cockroaches, but I still stay away from swaps where leeches normally are.
Do you watch the hit show on ABC, Grey’s Anatomy? There’s one episode (in season 3) there where leeches were used in the treatment of one man’s (I’m not sure if it was) melanoma. The man has some sort of blood clots under the skin at the tip of his nose and fingers.
Watching that particular episode made me cringe from the insides, how much more if I would be the one being treated with them leeches, even for arthritis pain?Would you agree to treatment with leeches?! I’d rather pop a pill – which is a lot easier for me.Anyways, findings of the above study of leeches against arthritis pain were reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
According to the study’s authors, the treatment was safe and well tolerated, but leech therapy does carry certain infectious risks.“But he doubts that the effect was probably anything more than would be seen with a skin irritant.The more exciting aspect of this work is the potential for the discovery of a novel analgesic agent that could be safely administered without the need for a leech bite.”So, leech therapy anyone?! Remember it is better than topical diclofenac against arthritis pain.
The bloodletting using leech takes between 20 minutes and two hours.There is no need to worry on the safety and the cleanliness of the procedure because the leeches that originate from Europe are clean and they are only used once.
The therapy also helps to breakdown fats, reduce sweating and provide relief from fever and relieve stiff muscles at the neck, shoulder, waist and the nerves at the leg joints.
For woman in particular, this procedure can help relief pain related to menstruation, alleviate symptoms associated with sinus problems.
Firming Medicinal Leeches and Benefits
Here my thought about benefit of leeches | |
Leeches are 'worms' with suckers on each end. Leeches can range in size from from a half of inch to ten inches long. They are brown or black in colour. Some feed on decaying plant material. Others are parasites, feeding on blood and tissue of other animals.
Blood-sucking leeches suck your blood using two ways: they use a proboscis to puncture your skin, or they use their three jaws and millions of little teeth. They live just about anywhere where is water. Leeches find you by detecting skin oils, blood, heat, or even the carbon dioxide you breathe out.
Leeches do not feed often. This is because they take in a big amount of blood when they feed.
Doctors often used leeches in the past to draw blood. Some barbers used leeches to do surgery as well as cutting hair. When a barber finished surgery, he would take the bloody bandage and wrapped it around a pole to show he did surgery, too. That’s how the the white and red swirled barber pole came into use.
Today, maggots and leeches are being used for different reasons. Scientists are studying leech saliva. They believe the substance that stops or prevents blood clots will one day be able to be used on humans. Researchers have also identified several medical compounds which can be developed from leech saliva. The anticoagulant and clot-digesting properties of these substances make them potentially useful as drugs for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes. Leeches can be "milked" for their secretions without being harmed, and research is continuing into the possibility of synthetically engineering leech saliva.
But leeches are still being used to suck blood! Doctors are now turning to leeches to help restore blood circulation to grafted tissue and reattached fingers and toes. For example: microsurgeons in a Boston hospital used leeches to save the ear of a 5 year old boy that had been bitten off by a dog. The leech can remove any congested blood to allow normal circulation to return to the tissues, thus preventing gangrene from starting.
Today, hundreds of thousands of leeches are sold in USA to hospitals,clinics and individuals.The European market is much bigger: millions of leeches are sold every year.
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