It is fairly common knowledge that George Washington's doctors applied medicinal leeches (Hirudo medicinalis) to suck 80 ounces of his blood out of him in 1799 in a futile attempt to save his life. As late as 1942, medical textbooks advocated using leeches to treat acute pneumonia. Leech therapy has been prevalent for thousands of years in parts of India to treat various skin diseases. In 2004, the FDA licensed a French company who had been in the leech business for over 150 years to market them as a medical device in the USA.
Leeches are normally used to help heal wounds and restore circulation in blocked blood vessels. However, a Chicago scientist recently discovered that the use of leeches in the past to treat staph infections, including staph-induced pneumonia, may have actually had a benefit. The staph germ thrives on iron, which it obtains from the hemoglobin in the blood of its victims. The removal of blood from the infected area will slow the staph growth by starving it. In light of the evolution of antibiotic-resistant staph germs, alternative methods of treatment, such as placing clammy blood-sucking worms on the patient, may be an answer to these diseases.
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