Project365 Frame 110
Look at the picture, do you recognize what are these in a jar of water? These are real, live, blood sucking leeches. A patient in our hospital is on leech therapy. Kind of creepy huh! Even me, when I heard that we are keeping a jar of live leeches gave me some goosebumps. I went online to check what is the main purpose of these creepy worms in the modern medical world. It turned out that these blood suckers actually help promote fresh blood flow to prevent blood clots. There's something in their unique saliva that when they bite a "victim" this would cause an increase of blood flow therefore prevent clotting. Victims tend to bleed for hours therefore allowing rich oxygenated blood to enter the wound area until veins re-grow and regain circulation.
For more information about leech therapy, you can go online. Try copying this URL into your browser for a start:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/bloodysuckers/leech.html
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