Medical Leech
Hirudinaria Manillensis
Medicinal Leech
Roughly 600 leech species have been identified to date, but only about 15 are used in medicine. Leeches classified as “medicinal leeches”, Hirudo Medicinalis, in the narrower sense have been used to treat patients for centuries.
Today, doctors use leeches for treating abscesses, painful joints, glaucoma, myasthenia, and to heal venous diseases and thrombosis. Medical leeches are used in plastic surgery, for improving brain circulation and for curing infertility.
Apart from using the English and Scottish leeches, huge numbers were imported from France, Hungary, the Ukraine, Turkey, Rumania, Russia, Egypt and Algeria. In 1846 in France alone, 30 million leeches were used. Hospitals in both London and Paris required 13 million between them for that single year. America produced their own leeches and one farm sold over a thousand a day everyday.
Today leeches are bred in captivity in many institutions including Bristol Zoo Gardens. Leeches have found new fame in microsurgery, where doctors require the precision of the leech to drain congested blood from wound sites. Plastic surgeons are particularly grateful for the contribution made by the leech, due to their use in the treatment of difficult grafts and reconstructive surgery.
