Leeches: Bug week begins!
This week on The One Show we'll be finding out what's so great about a wasp, why mosquitoes make that annoying noise in your ears, what makes a tick - tick, and why nits like clean hair.
The first film of the week is all about leeches. George McGavin waded through the ponds and ditches at Romney Marsh in Kent, dressed as a 19th century leech collector. Back then, the medicinal leech was extremely popular as it was believed to cure people of their bad blood. Today, leeches are still used in plastic and reconstructive surgery, as wounds heal much better when leeches are used to keep the blood flowing through them.
There are sixteen species of leech in Britain, but only one has the jaws capable of sucking human blood, the medicinal leech or Hirudo medicinalis.
Bloodsucking leeches will drop off on their own when they are done feeding - removing a leech by burning with a cigarette (as seen in the movies) is generally not recommended as this can result in the leech regurgitating into the wound and causing infection much worse than the leech bite itself.
See some of the photos of insects you've sent in.
Have you been bitten by a leech? Have you been treated with leeches? What was it like?
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwisefor full instructions
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~03~RS~)
Comments
disgusting, why the hell do they show all those insects right in the middle of dinner time??!!! honestly people...
Complain about this comment
It probably would have been responsible of the Beeb to tell people *not* to use the products that they displayed tonight as examples of leech removal. The use of salt, vinegar, matches etc will cause the leech to regurgitate into the bloodstream potentially spreading blood-born diseases...doh!
Complain about this comment
HAHA, just noticed that the story above says exactly what I wrote...still...it probably should have been broadcast :P
Complain about this comment
Thank you so much for the article on leeches - not! I was just enjoying my apple & blackberry crumble - but I hate leeches - and the little critters put me completely off my food! NASTY.
Complain about this comment
If leeches make you queasy, how about a feature on lampreys.
I heard a story of an angler standing in a river who was horrified to find himself surrounded by bright red blood, he looked up stream and saw an otter floating on its back munching a huge lamprey, when the otter saw the fisherman, it released the carcass which drifted down stream on one side of the angler, the otter calmly drifted on the other side and picked it up again downstream.
Complain about this comment
Do leaches have diseases?
Complain about this comment
Hello George,
regarding your leeches and their removal.
i have recently lost a friend who had leeches attached to her whilst in the outback of Australia. It is thought that she did not remove them correctly and as a result the attached Leeches regurgitated their blood back into her body and she contracted Hepatitus B and after some 18 months of hospital treatment she unfortunately passed away.
is it possible that leeches could have regurgitated their blood back into her body in this way??
Complain about this comment
BUG WEEK?
I associate bugs with "bad". Computer bugs are bad. Catching a bug is bad. Bedbugs are bad. But those beautiful moths and caterpillars we saw tonight surely can't be bad?
Could you not call the slot "INSECT WEEK"? Insects are interesting and definitely not bad.
Or would "Insect Week" not have the same dramatic scary impact as what sounds like a Hollywood movie mega blockbuster "Bug Week" title ??
Come on, let's give insects their due!
Complain about this comment
Do not pull the leech away just like that! The jaws are still holding tightly to your skin , and it will tear your skin! Just a very tiny hole, though, but this makes him bleed for 5 and a half hours.
I read in a magazine back in Malaysia, which suggest us to pour some cold tea ( or sprinkle tea leaves , i cant remember very well ) , on the leech. It will then feel dizzy and drop by itself. Win-win situation , human wont bleed that long, and the jaws of the leech are not hurt in the process.
I don't know how true is this as I have not tried it before. George, do you wanna give it a try? And tell me the outcome, k?
But overall, I like the show. I haven't seen a leech's jaws before.
Geraldine
Norwich
Complain about this comment
AFIK, leeches don't *have* diseases, but they might be carrying diseases from blood that they have previously ingested. It is possible (although very very unlikely) that Hepatitis (amongst others) could be transferred to you if you forcibly, and incorrectly, remove the leech.
Hope that helps!
J
Complain about this comment
Highly interesting. Looking forward to next week with the "tick". I caught "Tick Typhus", "Mediteranian Spotted Fever" or any other name you wish to call it. I caught it from a tick of a sheep in Corfu, so be carefull all you holiday makers.
Regards
Complain about this comment
Can anyone on the show explain why, when my girlfriend picks slugs off the plants in her garden, they leave a strange dark mark on her skin which resembles a blood blister? The mark doesn't hurt, but it cannot be washed off and takes several days to fade naturally. Does anyone else experience this? Does anybody know what causes it? We would both be fascinated to know, not that we lead dull, uneventful lives or anything like that. Cheers!
Complain about this comment
The last time I saw ticks they were stuck on both of my shins and I didn't even know that they were ticks, and dangerous. 4 weeks later I became very ill and it was supposed to be a bad case of flu. It kept coming back, every few weeks, like a relapsing fever, except this was from Scottish ticks. The illness attacked my body in many different ways.
It turned out to be Lyme disease and I'm still sick 23 years later. Fraid I'm virtually housebound now, and in a lot of pain.
Please warn everyone that ticks are vile creatures, full of bacteria like Lyme disease, and up to 200 different viruses.
I never noticed a bulls eye rash, though about 50% of people do. In a way, they are probably the lucky ones, cos it's sign you must go to the doctor straight away, and get prophylactic treatment for Lyme disease, a few weeks of antibiotics might save your life.
Be careful how you remove a tick, I hope they show this on the One Show.
Have a look at www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk/
and
www.bada-uk.org/
for lots of info on ticks, and how to avoid them!
Best wishes,
Denise
Complain about this comment
I was bitten by a little leech last year (not nearly as big as the ones on TV last night) whilst cleaning out my wildlife pond which came as a bit of a surprise! It bit my ankle with a sharp sting and I brushed it off quickly. My ankle then bled for a while - it was pretty horrible. I can't decide whether or not I am happy to have leeches in my little garden pond....
Complain about this comment
It's ticks tonight (Tues) - I'll be watching with interest. I really hope they don't subscribe to the common-held belief that Lyme Disease is rare in this country, it certainly isn't and it's an outrage that it's not even considered when people arrive at the GP surgery with typical Lyme symptoms.
Too many people are languishing with misdiagnoses of CFS/ME/Fibromyalgia, etc. because of sheer ignorance, when they could actually be successfully treated, or at least get some quality of life back. Been there done that, now wearing the T-shirt. I wish someone in themedia would pick up this story and expose it for the scandal it is.
Jan
Complain about this comment
I'm not keen on leeches but I have a Victorian Leech Tank, designed to keep your pets (paracetamols) alive. When I lived on the canal that used to join Glasgow & Edinburgh, I waded in with long trousers tied around the ankles, to avoid horse-leeches. I also lived for 3 years in the Nepalese hills, which had 2 major kinds of leech - the biggish ones that dropped on you from the overhanging vegetation in the cold high rain forest, and the smaller trail leeches that were very intelligent and would get on your feet through the breathing-holes in your trainers and simply suck blood. If dislodged, they would just take another bite. So you ended up with a shoeful of blood. Our porters (Sherpas) carried a light stick with a bag tied to the end containing a mix of sand and ash from the cooking-fire - this lye, dampened, would knock the leeches off. Ourselves, we leapt from rock to rock, but we would see dead leaves with several "stems" sticking up. We also had to divert fromn the trail to pick wild strawberries or answer calls of nature and this meant extra care. Some locals (Tibetans) would get the larger leeches, attach them to their livestock, let them suck blood, then fry them, split them open and eat the cooked blood (Black Pudding).
Complain about this comment
Anyone interested in ticks may care to look at the Dartmoor Tick Watch web site: www.dartmoorticks.co.uk.
This is a current project running until the end of 2009. The web site has recent photographs of the stages of the tick life cycle, with larvae, nymphs and adult males and females - including seven mating pairs.
Complain about this comment
Thanks for the tick links! I'll take a look when writing the tick post...
Complain about this comment
Can leeches live in the ground as well as in water. In my back garden I have come across what appear to be leeches while digging. They are olive green in colour, and about 3-4 inches long.
They normally appear where the soil is quite waterlogged.
I did think they might be flatworms (foreign invaders) but I haven`t been able to positively identify them.
Aaron
Wilts
Complain about this comment
I have just seen the programme on ticks and just want to say that the BBC should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. It was an insult to the many people struggling with very poor health from these creatures.
I'm stunned and appalled.
Jan
Complain about this comment
BUG WEEK?
I associate bugs with "bad". Computer bugs are bad. Catching a bug is bad. Bedbugs are bad. But those beautiful moths and caterpillars we saw tonight surely can't be bad?
Could you not call the slot "INSECT WEEK"? Insects are interesting and definitely not bad.
Or would "Insect Week" not have the same dramatic scary impact as what sounds like a Hollywood movie mega blockbuster "Bug Week" title ??
Come on, let's give insects their due!
C Pearcey
Cheshire
Complain about this comment
For MR Mcgavin
Over the years I have noticed a marked decline in invertebrates in Mid Devon. A good example of this is the sterility of cowpats. Nothing lives under them any more whereas they used to teem with life. Suspect it is caused by strong drenches used by farmers.
Complain about this comment
Thank you, George for standing up for all these much-misunderstood beasts. Medicinal leeches are fantastic animals that are currently enjoying a revival in the medical profession, but REALLY suffering in the wild as a result of habitat loss, poor management and just plain ignorance of the natural environment around us.
In answer to message 14, if your pond was in Britain, it wouldn't have been the little leech that bit you- only the big medicinal ones are capable of penetrating human skin over here (and they're so rare now that they're legally protected) - the others will specialise in feeding on frogs, fish, inside ducks' nostrils, earthworms etc and are all perfectly harmless creatures as far as humans are concerned. These other leech species may attach themselves to you with their suckers, but won't feed. Tropical ones are a different matter!
Complain about this comment
View these comments in RSS