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."

Fresh Blood for Russia's Economy

Leeches is new trend market

Leeches are bred in a factory near Moscow.

Marina Kamenev for TIME

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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.

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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.

The return of the leech

A medical marvel rises from both the swamp and the pages of history.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE

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.

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

As early as 1500 BC, the Egyptians advocated using honey, lint and animal grease for chronic, non-healing wounds. Throughout the ages, healers have tried everything from natural sunlight to sugar and antacids to hasten wound closure.

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."

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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!

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.

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.

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.

"Though the blood sucking leeches may leave behind some marks when they cup to the skin, these marks are not permanent and will go off completely in a few week.This therapy using leaches has many health benefits because it improves blood circulation, get rids of poisons in the blood, overcomes migraine, and rejuvenates the respiratory and the excretory system.

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 About 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.