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Duskypearls -> RE: i find the rescue owner, where I volunteer for , very intimidating (11/30/2011 2:44:37 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: LadyConstanze
quote:
ORIGINAL: Duskypearls
I'm liking the sound of this leech business, but I'm curious about the possibility of the transmission of blood borne diseases, protozoa, and parasites from one animal to another. I wonder if each patient, human or animal, gets their own fresh, unused leeches?
In general the leeches are destroyed after having sucked blood, the leeches are medical leeches raised under very controlled conditions and not fed on human blood, I checked as well as it was a concern of mine, and by law in the UK they are fed in abattoirs on blood of slaughtered animals that have been checked by veterinaries, quite strict regulations, those are the ones they use for breeding, they have to be fed differently, also the leeches only bite when hungry, which means they have to be completely starved, usually you get the young leeches who have been fed on specially raised water snails (before they are grown up their jaws are too weak to bite through skin), so once they are grown they are put in a special gel and kept quite cold (if it's cold their metabolism slows down a lot and they can survive for a long time without food), they usually are sent in special boxes and in a special gel and a "best before..." date on them, after that date they would be likely starve. The reason why they are killed is fairly simple, they are relatively inexpensive, most people don't want a glass jar of leeches in their home, the people who apply them have to take care to not mix them, so it's easier to just dispose of them.
You can't ever mix leeches that have fed and leeches that are unfed, as they would cannibalize the fed leech as they smell the blood. They can be reused but should only be used on the same person, I kept the ones Kia had and the ones I had (I have major spine problems due to herniated disks) but keep them in separate glass containers, labeled with our names, the warmer you keep them the quicker they will metabolize and then can be reused. Since it's very likely that Kia will need them every few months (though in some cases they cure completely and never need to be applied again), I really didn't like the idea of the leeches being killed, essentially they only did what they were bred for and helped my (not so) little girl a lot.
If you order them from a reputable supplier there is seriously NO danger of infections as they have never fed on another person, can you imagine the law suit if they would spread a blood born disease or pathogens? The NHS wouldn't pay for their service (they are stingy enough as it is) for arthritis patients if they would present a danger or wouldn't work. I wouldn't recommend fishing them out of swamps, because chances are that they are the wrong type of leeches anyway and you don't know who they have bit before...
The only problem is the mess as it tends to bleed for quite a while (which is part of the desired effect), the blood is very bright, looks almost theatrical and the vet explained that they usually only see blood like this if a dog is under anesthetics with an oxygen mask, because the brightness comes from being very oxygenated. I wouldn't recommend taking your dog straight home if you have a lot of carpets (I am sooooo glad that I have mainly wooden floors and a steam cleaner for the walls, she really manages to get it everywhere - I might restrict her to the bathroom or garage for a few hours after the next treatment).
When I had them on my back (I was glad I didn't see them) I couldn't believe the effect they had on my back pain, it's the relief from acupuncture times 10, though it does take a few hours to kick in, a few times I had injections for the back pain, it's like that but without the slightly dazed feeling you get from the injection (where I believe they use some morphine derivate which makes me a bit uneasy).
I sent you a PM with a bunch of links regarding their use, they are pretty fascinating creatures, even if I don't find them "adorable" and they do creep me out a bit.
LadyC, what a veritable encyclopedic knowledge you have of the subject. About young leeches raised on snails, I wonder about the risk of possibly having and transmitting Schistosomiasis (Snail Fever). Knowing such treatment brought you such relief, vertebrally speaking, appeals to my herniating discs, which are now loudly encouraging me consider trying this. Thanks for all the information and PM's.
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