Did our episode on maggots leave you wanting more squirmy wormy yet oh so cool content? You’re in luck. Because this week, we’re following up our maggots episode with a companion piece on leeches. Leeches have been used by healers and physicians for millennia, and they’ve come back into style for treatments today, for very good reason. If you’ve ever wondered what makes leech saliva so magical, why barber poles are striped with red and white ribbons, or how leeches behave as parents, then this is certainly the episode for you. And we are so excited to be joined by friend of the pod Dr. Robert Rowe, who shares a tale of leeches from the front lines of plastic surgery. Dr. Rowe MD, MBA, MPH is a Preventive Medicine Physician who serves as adjunct faculty with both the University of North Carolina Preventive Medicine Residency Program and the Gillings School of Global Public Health. He is also the creator and host of TarHeal Wellness, a podcast dedicated to the health and wellbeing of medical residents, touching on physical and mental challenges many other people face as well. For those who have friends or family who are doctors or training to be, it’s a great way to hear about some of the challenges of residency and how they can work through and overcome them. Available wherever you get your podcasts!
| History | Biology |
| Adams, Stephen L. “The medicinal leech: a page from the annelids of internal medicine.” Annals of internal medicine 109.5 (1988): 399-405. | Zaidi, S.M., Jameel, S.S., Zaman, F., Jilani, S., Sultana, A. and Khan, S.A., 2011. A systematic overview of the medicinal importance of sanguivorous leeches. Altern med rev, 16(1), pp.59-65. |
| Chin, T-H. “Further note on leech infestation in man.” Journal of Parasitology 35.2 (1949). | Hackenberger, P.N. and Janis, J.E., 2019. A comprehensive review of medicinal leeches in plastic and reconstructive surgery. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery–Global Open, 7(12), p.e2555. |
| Elliott, J. Malcolm, and Ulrich Kutschera. “Medicinal leeches: historical use, ecology, genetics and conservation.” Freshwater Reviews 4.1 (2011): 21-41. | Lemke, S. and Vilcinskas, A., 2020. European medicinal leeches—new roles in modern medicine. Biomedicines, 8(5), p.99. |
| Fields, William S. “The history of leeching and hirudin.” Haemostasis 21.Suppl 1 (1991): 3-10. | Gileva, O.S. and Mumcuoglu, K.Y., 2013. Hirudotherapy. In Biotherapy-history, principles and practice: a practical guide to the diagnosis and treatment of disease using living organisms (pp. 31-76). Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. |
| Hyson, John M. “Leech therapy: a history.” J Hist Dent 53.1 (2005): 25-27. | Grassberger, M., Sherman, R.A., Gileva, O.S., Kim, C.M. and Mumcuoglu, K.Y., 2013. Biotherapy-History, principles and practice. Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London, 37, pp.38-39. |
| Kraemer, Bruce A., et al. “Use of leeches in plastic and reconstructive surgery: a review.” Journal of reconstructive microsurgery 4.05 (1988): 381-386. | |
| Kuo, Dian‐Han, and Yi‐Te Lai. “On the origin of leeches by evolution of development.” Development, Growth & Differentiation 61.1 (2019): 43-57. | |
| Montinari, Maria Rosa, and Sergio Minelli. “From ancient leech to direct thrombin inhibitors and beyond: New from old.” Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy 149 (2022): 112878. | |
| Mory, Robert N., David Mindell, and David A. Bloom. “The leech and the physician: biology, etymology, and medical practice with Hirudinea medicinalis.” World journal of surgery 24 (2000): 878-883. | |
| Moser, W. E., F. R. Govedich, and D. J. Klemm. “Annelida, Hirudinida (leeches).” (2009): 116-123. | |
| Siddall, Mark E., et al. “Diverse molecular data demonstrate that commercially available medicinal leeches are not Hirudo medicinalis.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 274.1617 (2007): 1481-1487. | |
| Siddall, Mark E., et al. “Bacterial symbiont and salivary peptide evolution in the context of leech phylogeny.” Parasitology 138.13 (2011): 1815-1827. | |
| De Silva, P. H. D. H., and A. A. Anderson. “A record of Dinobdella ferox (Blanchard)(Hirudidae, Hirudinea) taken from the nasal cavity of man.” Annals of Tropical Medicine & Parasitology 58.1 (1964): 1-2. | |
| Wells, Mark D., et al. “The medical leech: an old treatment revisited.” Microsurgery 14.3 (1993): 183-186. |
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