Slick, naughty leech

It's a blue (pun intended) Monday, especially if you are United fan. The reason? The noisy blue neighbours - Manchester City - won the EPL title. In a nail-biting, dramatic fashion!

Anyway, due credit must be given to the deserving victors. Congratulations City. For us, let's set some sparks this otherwise blue Monday.

The following is a snapshot of a local tabloid in Malay language, so that would give me reason to repeat the story in English (and make this article appear longer than it is):

Daily Express, 14.5.2012

It talks about a terrifying experience of a 7-year-old boy who was warded to remove a leech which had entered his anus while fishing at a swamp. The boy, Mohd Farhan, only noticed the big leech when he suffered rectal bleeding while 'doing his business'.

It stated that the leech measured about the size of an adult thumb.

That is monstrously big compared to the tiny forest leech that usually enter and feed in your nose while you go hiking or jungle trekking. It can be easily removed though, by snipping the old-trusted Axe Brand oil; the leech would just fall off.

But in the rectum? This one has got to be the hungry, aggressive water-buffalo leech! Auchh!

Health Ministry Warned Against Treatments Using Leeches

Article: Daily Express

The Health Ministry recently advised the public to stay away from traditional healing treatments using leeches as it may cause bacterial infection. Director-general Datuk Seri Dr Hasan Abdul Rahman said the ministry had not approved such treatment centres as the effectiveness was not proven.

"The ministry strictly does not allow this treatment method as there is no scientific evidence to prove the treatment works," he told the New Straits Times yesterday.

Dr Hasan said stern action will be taken against traditional healing practitioners who continue to risk the public's health. He was responding to claims of a skin specialist at An-Nur Hospital, Dr Saadiah Sulaiman, that the leech treatment exposed the public to a dry cough.

She claimed that to date, two patients had sought follow up treatments for the illness at the hospital after trying out the leech treatment. Dr Hasan added that the perception of many that leeches suck dirty blood was also wrong as there was no such thing as dirty blood in medical terms.

"Infectious disease may spread through blood when the same leech is used on another patient."

Dr Hasan said the treatment process could transmit dangerous diseases related to blood flow from one individual to another besides slowing the blood clot process.

"This may lead to constant bleeding with an open wound giving space for more serious problems."

Bad News For Leech Farmers?

A couple of years or so ago, leech farming was quite a topic in town as some enterprising individuals vigorously promote leech therapy and hence the high demand for leeches. There were talks about contract farming and it all seems very lucrative. It has faded a bit now but I believe there are still people doing this business on a smaller scale. Demand is still there from traditional healing practitioners although we have no figures to show.

The warning from Health Ministry is a blow to the trade. Stern action is to be taken against those found to violate the directive. But to be fair to the traditional practitioners, even the Ministry did not clearly explained what it stated "there is no scientific evidence to prove the treatment works".

Is it fair to prevent people from practicing the alternative treatment on grounds that there is no scientific evidence to prove the treatment? Have the ministry proved that it was the leech treatment that caused the dry cough? It could be due to un-controlled treatment procedure rather than the practice itself.

People in many countries still use leech therapy in a controlled way, such as making sure a leech is used only once in a treatment to avoid infectious disease, health checks of patients prior to leech treatment, etc.

Going back to traditional and natural way of healing is good considering today's society's dependence on drugs. It is your health, be more alert and know the risk you are taking.

Is back-to-nature good in this context?