New Delhi: A few years ago when Hollywood actress Demi Moore said she let leeches suck her blood as part of a therapy to look fresh and young it made headlines. This ancient medical therapy of using leeches for clinical bloodletting to treat certain health conditions is making a comeback of sorts in India where the therapy is said to have originated.
Leeches (or Hirudo Medicinalis) are segmented worms from the Annelida family with suckers at the ends of their body. A leech can consume between 5 and 15 ml of blood - or four-six times their body weight in a single feed. The bite of a leech is not painful as it releases an anaesthetic to prevent the hosts from feeling them.
Many people are now taking to leech therapy to treat conditions ranging from blood pressure to gout, from healing wounds to even hair fall. Only the medicinal leeches are used for treatment, which are brown, red striped and olive-coloured.
"The therapy has a lot many advantages, without any side effects. It is a major therapeutic tool and helps in many blood-related diseases. It also minimises the chances of blood rejection in blood transfusion cases," ayurveda specialist Ravi Raghuvanshi said.
Describing the therapy as "safe and advantageous", Raghuvanshi said the treatment is already "very popular" in the West. "The therapy is very popular in the West particularly in countries like the US and Germany. The reason is there is good awareness in the West as a lot of research has been done on the subject."
"In India, where the therapy originated, there is hardly any awareness or much research, though the practice dates back 5,000 years. The knowledge has not been transferred well. The popularity is also scattered. Only 300-400 people every year in Delhi and NCR use leech therapy," Raghuvanshi said.
In 2008, the union health ministry decided to recognise leech therapy to treat a range of diseases, including eczema, gangrene, vascular reconstruction and vascular surgery in chronic wounds.
Leeches (or Hirudo Medicinalis) are segmented worms from the Annelida family with suckers at the ends of their body. A leech can consume between 5 and 15 ml of blood - or four-six times their body weight in a single feed. The bite of a leech is not painful as it releases an anaesthetic to prevent the hosts from feeling them.
Many people are now taking to leech therapy to treat conditions ranging from blood pressure to gout, from healing wounds to even hair fall. Only the medicinal leeches are used for treatment, which are brown, red striped and olive-coloured.
"The therapy has a lot many advantages, without any side effects. It is a major therapeutic tool and helps in many blood-related diseases. It also minimises the chances of blood rejection in blood transfusion cases," ayurveda specialist Ravi Raghuvanshi said.
Describing the therapy as "safe and advantageous", Raghuvanshi said the treatment is already "very popular" in the West. "The therapy is very popular in the West particularly in countries like the US and Germany. The reason is there is good awareness in the West as a lot of research has been done on the subject."
"In India, where the therapy originated, there is hardly any awareness or much research, though the practice dates back 5,000 years. The knowledge has not been transferred well. The popularity is also scattered. Only 300-400 people every year in Delhi and NCR use leech therapy," Raghuvanshi said.
In 2008, the union health ministry decided to recognise leech therapy to treat a range of diseases, including eczema, gangrene, vascular reconstruction and vascular surgery in chronic wounds.
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