Does anyone know if medicinal leeches are still used and what they are used for?

Yes I heard that after the part is reattached, the leeches are put on the end of the finger or whatever part was cut off, and they help the circulation of blood flow to keep the part alive.

Oh jeeze, I would hope they would not be used again on another patient. That could be a biological nightmare due to all the contamination when on one person. Granted the leeches/maggots are hardly sterile prior to use, but are grown in special conditions to limit pathogenic growth in/on them. Imagine if something went badly on a reused leech/maggot and gave someone some virus (HIV comes to mind), a pathogenic bacteria/fungi or protazoan/parasite. Just like most medical tools, they must be sterilized or disposed of afterwards when contacting body fluids. (I'm sure they wouldn't survive the sterilization procedure (autoclaving) so for safety purposes that only leaves one option... disposal.) Also I'm not sure many people would be too happy releasing living medical waste into the environment.

Actually, medicinal leeches are making a comeback, they are being used more and more. Mainly they are used in cases of internal bleeding to remove excess blood.

Im pretty sure they are and they are used to like suck all the bad blood out will they put new in i think oh ya they also put them on swollen things to help the swelling to go down. or atleast they used toidk but we learned about it in school last year

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-07-07-lee...

Improve blood flow to an area...