Plant and animal-derived products are crucial components in complementary and alternative medicine. Although modern medicine has provided numerous innovations and advancements, these often fail to reveal new and dependable, inexpensive treatments nor real cures that are relatively free of adverse side effects. We present evidence that hirudotherapy, which utilizes leeches, improves certain dise...

Leeches are prevalent in the Australian Rainforest. We report two cases of leech bites resulting in pruritis and palpable purpura. The dermatologic sequelae of leech bites, differential diagnosis of pruritic palpable purpura, leech bite treatment, prevention, and complications are reviewed.

Leeches are found in fresh water as well as moist marshy tropical areas. Orifical Hirudiniasis is the presence of leech in natural human orifices. Leech have been reported in nose, oropharynx, vagina, rectum and bladder but leech per urethra is very rare. We report a case of leech in urethra causing hematuria and bleeding disorder in the form of epistaxis and impaired clotting profile after use...

In tropical countries, leech bites are common and reported to cause life-threatening complications. We would like to highlight two cases that represented acute and chronic gynaecological complications of leech bites. First case was a two-year-old girl who presented with persistent vaginal bleeding complicated by disseminated intravascular coagulopathy after a leech was forcefully removed from h...

1. The injection of leech extracts into the skin increases its permeability, as shown both by the spread of fluid and of foreign particles through the dermis. The spread is followed some hours after the injection by more or less edema of the subcutaneous tissue. 2. A preliminary study of the chemical properties of the leech spreading factor indicates a similarity with the spreading factor prepa...