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Hirudo medicinalis (speckled, Swedish or German leech)
Species previously in most medicinal use. Still used occasionally.
Indications:
1) reduction of venous congestion in surgical flaps or replanted body parts
2) osteoarthritis [3]
Complications:
1) wound infection
2) myonecrosis
3) sepsis due to Aeromonas hydrophilia which colonizes the gullets of commercially available leeches
4) itching 70% [3]
5) anemia: mean decline in hemoglobin 0.6 mg/dL [3]
Specific
Hirudo medicinalis offinalis
General
Hirudo
Properties
KINGDOM: animal
PHYLUM: arthropod
ORGANISM-CLASS: Hirudinea (leeches)
FAMILY: Gnathobdellidae
GENUS: Hirudo
SPECIES: MEDICINALIS
References
- Stedman's Medical Dictionary 27th ed, Williams &
Wilkins, Baltimore, 1999
- Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 13th ed.
Isselbacher et al (eds), McGraw-Hill Inc. NY, 1994, pg 936
- Journal Watch 23(24):193, 2003
Michalson A et al, Ann Intern Med 139:724, 2003
PMID: 14564334
Hochberg MC, Ann Intern Med 139:781, 2003
PMID: 14597463