![]() The use of leeches in Germany and Russia still remains very popular, with Russia being the biggest export of medicinal leeches in the world at this point in time. ![]() With the invention of the antibiotics in the 1930's leeches were abandoned, although they were still used in surgery, to remove stagnant blood from a flap or reattached limb, as well as non-invasive therapy outside hospitals. Leeches were widely used in Asia and the Middle East. By the mid 1800's the popularity and demand on leeches was so high, that France imported about forty million leeches yearly and England had to buy leeches from the French, since their leech production was insufficient. Leech therapy remained popular throughout the ages, in all parts of the world, for treating various illnesses. It was the Romans who gave the leeches the name 'hirudo' which is used to this day. The bringing of the leech therapy to the western world is owed to Aelinus Galenus (AD 129-200), a renowned physician, who practiced bloodletting actively and introduced it to Rome. They were used by Hippocrates and Herophilos to balance the humours, who believed that an imbalance of the four humours- blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile - was at the root of all diseases. Records of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, the Mayans and the Aztecs all show the use of medicinal leeches for curing different medical conditions - from headaches to hemorrhoids. Leeches have been used for as long as human history has been recorded. Leeching refers to placing leeches on the skin, in order to release blood, although the old term of the word literally means 'to cure'. Leeches are any carnivorous or bloodsucking water or terrestrial worms of the class Hirudea. It came from the archaic forms in different languages, which all mean enchanter, healer, physician, counselor'. The term 'leech' comes from the archaic word for 'healer, physician'.
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