Vascular lesions

Question

Vascular lesions caused by the leeches on the blood vessels of their host cause blood naturally to coagulate. How does the leech resolve this trouble as it could be predicted that the ingested blood would coagulate within its body?

Answer 1

Ingested blood doesn’t coagulate within the leech (that is, Hirudo medicinalis) as in its saliva there is a potent anticoagulant substance, a protein termed as hirudin.

In past, leeches were largely employed as medical treatment. These days hirudotherapy is being employed in patients with extensive and chronic inflammation of skin, in prevention against tissue necrosis subsequent to some surgeries and in some others fields of Medicine.