Methods to safely take away a leech, or keep away from them altogether

For those who’ve ever watched the basic 1986 Rob Reiner movie Stand by Me — inspired by a Stephen King story known as “The Physique” — you then’re properly conscious of leeches. Okay, so likelihood is that even in the event you’ve not seen that movie you continue to know what a leech is, you’re just a bit much less scarred and don’t get up at night time with visions of leeches hanging out of your pores and skin. Understandably, these grotesque blood-suckers get a foul rap. However they simply need to feed; is all of it that dangerous? Effectively, they’ll carry all kinds of ailments, and the anticoagulant of their blood doesn’t do them any favors.

It additionally doesn’t assist their case that for hundreds of years, “medical doctors” used leeches to bleed sufferers struggling with all the things from the Bubonic Plague to insomnia to pneumonia to halitosis — in all probability. Individuals believed that bloodletting may assist re-balance the physique’s “humors,” the important fluids that labored in live performance to keep up correct well being. However in actuality, it simply left us with an awesome concern for something that hangs from our legs and bites — sorry suctions — by means of our pores and skin. A leech chunk is normally not harmful, however you continue to have to know methods to take away one safely. For those who’ve received one hanging from you proper now, perhaps skip down a number of sections to be taught to take away it, however in the event you’ve received just a little time let’s be taught just a little extra about these suckers.

What’s a leech, anyway?

In a scientific sense, leeches are members of the annelid phylum — often known as segmented worms — and are a distant cousin of the benign earthworm. That is in the identical means as a stockbroker might be associated to a heavy metallic guitarist. In a broader sense, they’re nightmarish bloodsuckers who chunk you and cling on. Besides they don’t. They don’t even chunk. Leeches use their three blade-like tooth to chew or scrape open a y-shaped wound on their host earlier than suctioning onto the physique to feed. That’s a lot better than a chunk, proper?

Maybe not. However what’s mildly reassuring is the information that a complete quarter of species of leeches don’t truly feed by sucking the blood of the host. The truth that they eat the complete animal as an alternative doesn’t sound like reassurance, however a leech would have a tough time consuming a complete human physique. Of the roughly 700 species of leech, fewer than 100 stay on the land, and across the similar quantity reside in salt water. That implies that the remainder of them stay in freshwater — primarily in stagnant swimming pools and shallower rivers — and that is the place you’re most certainly to come back into contact with them.

Are leech bites harmful?

Usually, no. Most leech bites lead to a minor flesh wound and a few bleeding. However as long as you will have a first aid kit readily available to stem the stream of blood, you received’t undergo any long-term results. They’ll bleed rather a lot although. In truth, as a result of leeches launch an anti-coagulant to forestall blood clotting and make it simpler to feed, you possibly can bleed for as much as ten hours from a leech chunk.

Except you get lots of of leeches on you , you’re not about to bleed out from leeches. And even the deepest of sleepers goes to note lots of of bites — sorry, scrapes — taking place on the similar time, regardless of the most effective efforts of the leeches and their anesthesia. No, in actuality, leech bites aren’t harmful, however the hazard comes from improper removing. Not like people, the digestive system of a leech doesn’t sterilize its intestine and a squeezed or startled leech can regurgitate the contents of its intestine into the wound as they’re eliminated. Given that you just don’t know what these suckers have been feeding on earlier than, you by no means know what they may be harboring, so correct removing is vital to keep away from an infection, particularly in the event you’re deep into your backpacking journey.

Methods to keep away from leech bites

As with all backcountry survival methods, avoidance is best than a remedy. Not getting bitten by a leech is all the time going to be a greater choice than realizing methods to safely take away them. Do not forget that with leeches, just a little like bears and different animals, you’re going into its residence, so you possibly can’t actually blame it for being inquisitive about you.

To keep away from leeches, you mainly need to restrict their entry to your pores and skin the place attainable. Tucking your hiking pants into your lengthy hiking socks and your shirt into your pants can scale back this, however a correct pair of anti-leech socks is the easiest way to go. These would possibly seem like outsized gators — or trousers match for the circus — however they supply the most effective safety in opposition to these bloodsuckers. What’s extra, in the event you do have a leech climbing up your leg, you possibly can normally spot it early and take away it.

You possibly can create your personal repellent in the event you don’t have the right gear through the use of Deet or insect repellant in your tucked-in clothes to discourage them. Leeches additionally dislike tobacco, and you may create a tobacco spray by crushing the leaves in water and spraying it onto your physique, although you would possibly discover this simply as repellant because the leeches do. The best choice is to verify commonly for leeches and attempt to keep away from going for a cooling dip in squalid-looking swimming pools, irrespective of how heat you might be.

Methods to take away a leech

So that you’ve discovered a leech on you. Effectively, that sucks, however in the event you act rapidly and take away it correctly, you’ll be simply fantastic.

1. Establish the anterior sucker/mouth of the leech, which is normally on the narrower finish of the animal.
2. Use a flat, blunt object — ideally a bank card or different related software although a fingernail can suffice — and slowly however firmly slide the sting between the sucker and the pores and skin.
3. As soon as the suction breaks and the leech’s head detaches, seize the physique together with your fingers to dislodge the posterior sucker — or dig below it together with your flat, broad implement — after which throw that factor as exhausting and much as you possibly can! Or truly, simply drop it again into the water gently — horrifying as they might be, leeches are simply one other considered one of earth’s creatures they usually imply you no private hurt.

Leeches normally solely feed for half an hour or so, and as soon as full will typically drop off by themselves. When you’ve got no different technique of removing, you possibly can all the time simply let it feed — although maybe not if there are a great deal of them.

As soon as the leech is off, clear the chunk with water and an antiseptic. Dry the world, then clear once more —ideally with hydrogen peroxide, which might scale back the consequences of the anticoagulant.

How to not take away a leech