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This is my brain on leeches
- qrush 1y agoLeeches are very much in use today in the US, in operating rooms especially!
- lo_zamoyski 1y agoAlso, sterilized maggots are used for maggot debridement therapy to clean necrotic tissue from wounds. They don't touch living fresh.
- kragen 1y agoCareful! That depends on the species.
- erikerikson 1y agohttps://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/press-releases/2025/08/15/usda-announces-sweeping-plans-protect-united-states-new-world-screwworm https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/press-releases/2025/08/...
- kragen 1y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myiasis#/media/File:Wounds_myiasis_new_image.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myiasis#/media/File:Wounds_myi... (you will never be able to unsee this)
- wagwang 1y agoI would be down to try leeching but I have an irrational fear theyre gunna lay eggs in my bloodstream.
- Catbert59 1y agoSsh... don't fight the symbiosis... accept your fate
- IAmBroom 1y agoEXACTLY what a cordiceps host would say!
- MarcelOlsz 1y agoYou'll be fine. I went swamp swimming plenty as a kid and my grandmother would salt the leeches off me.
- atsaloli 1y agoNice! That reminds me of https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/bloodsuckers-1.5361074 https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/bloodsuckers-1.5361074 where I learned: "... resist the temptation to pour salt on [a bloodsucking leech], as folk wisdom recommends, because that could cause the leech to vomit into the wound, posing unnecessary health risks, suggest biologists behind a new exhibit on bloodsucking animals."
- Groxx 1y agoOkay, yea, that was a fun read. Thanks for the article/post/what the heck is the right term anyway! I learned lots of things I did not expect to learn today.
- LeoPanthera 1y agoLeeches can also be used for weather forecasting*, as in the greatest-named invention of all time, the Tempest Prognosticator. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempest_prognosticator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempest_prognosticator * results may vary.
- aaronharnly 1y agoThe original mixture of experts design, perhaps :) Thank you for sharing this!
- nycticorax 1y agoMy PhD research was actually studying the leech nervous system. They're still an important 'model' organism in neurobiology. Probably not as important in the field at large as they were in, say, the 1970s, but still. They're also a good system for neurophysiology education, because they are cheap and easy to obtain, have large-ish neurons that are identifiable from animal to animal, and their nervous system has a relatively simple organization.
- amelius 1y agoThe other day someone posted something interesting about leeches. Apparently you can use anti-mosquito spray to make them detach from the skin in minutes.
- jt2190 1y agoSaw that comment and I’m pretty sure that it is a bad idea since the article explicitly mentioned that stressing the leeches causes them to “vomit blood back into your bloodstream” and introduces a risk of bacterial infections. The advice was to use a credit card to quickly break the suction seal and force the leech to detach.
- stanislavb 1y agoWe've used pocket hand sanitiser to make Leeches to detach.
- ChrisMarshallNY 1y agoTIL that we have a legit leech distributor down the road. https://leechesusa.com https://leechesusa.com
- culi 1y agoIt's a bigger business than most people realize. Most operating rooms probably maintain a tank of leeches. They are used in reattachment and plastic surgery as well as microsurgery
- threemux 1y agoCertainly didn't expect to read about leeches today (or Napoleon's piles) but hey that's what's great about HN
- culi 1y agoYour local hospital quite likely currently has a tank of leeches. They are still used in surgery. Especially after reattachment surgeries. They secrete anticoagulants which prevent blood clotting. They are also used in microsurgery to increase blood flow to a certain area.
- wk_end 1y agoIs there some reason why we can’t either extract those anticoagulants from the leeches or otherwise synthesize them?
- ot 1y agoFrom Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirudo_medicinalis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirudo_medicinalis) > Because of the minuscule amounts of hirudin present in leeches, it is impractical to harvest the substance for widespread medical use. Hirudin (and related substances) are synthesized using recombinant techniques. Devices called "mechanical leeches" that dispense heparin and perform the same function as medicinal leeches have been developed, but they are not yet commercially available.
- BobBagwill 1y agoSwimming in Minnesota lakes: always check for leeches. It seems like they hang out close to shore, so swimming near the dock or weeds increases the chance of being an involuntary blood donor. New Guinea: they have land leeches that hang out at the end of branches, like ticks. Hikers use anti-leech sleeves and gaiters. I say: nuke from orbit, it's the only way to be sure. ;-)
- vintagedave 1y agoThis is actually a fascinating article, and I am suitably grossed out and fascinated at the same time. Good HN material, in the 'Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups.' guideline sense.
- mjd 1y agoSucher's substack is reliably interesting in that way, you should check out the back issues