What to Do If You Are Bitten by a Leech Outdoors? Symptoms and Prevention Methods
The leech, commonly known as the bloodsucker, has a cylindrical body that is slightly flattened and marked with dark green segments. It is hermaphroditic and a cold-blooded animal, mainly living in freshwater reservoirs, ditches, paddy fields, lakes and marshes, and is most abundant in ponds rich in organic matter or in unpolluted small rivers. It mainly feeds on the blood of animals or humans. So if you are bitten by a leech outdoors, what should you do? How can you reduce the harm leeches cause us?
Appearance Characteristics
The body is slightly flattened, appearing cylindrical at first glance, about 2 to 2.5 cm long and about 2 to 3 mm wide. The back is green with black, with 5 yellow longitudinal lines; the belly is flat and grayish green. It lives in paddy fields, ditches, shallow polluted pits and ponds, and is fond of sucking the blood of humans and livestock. It moves very quickly, can swim in a wave-like manner, and can also move in a looper-like fashion.
Harm
1. Leeches mostly live by sucking the blood of humans, livestock and other animals. They are widely distributed in China's paddy fields and rice fields and are very harmful to humans. When a leech sucks blood, it first uses the teeth on its jaws to cut open the skin, then uses the suction of its muscular pharynx to draw the blood into its body.
2. The salivary glands of leeches can secrete hirudin, an anticoagulant substance that prevents blood clotting, and histamine-like substances that dilate blood vessels, causing the wound to bleed continuously and making it prone to bacterial infection and ulceration. Therefore, efforts should be made to prevent and control them.
What Symptoms Appear After a Leech Bite
A leech does not burrow into the skin when it bites, but at the beginning of the bite the person will not feel pain, or will feel only itching, and will not feel pain until the leech leaves after feeding or is removed. A triangular wound can be seen on the local skin and it bleeds continuously. Red patches or wheals may appear on the skin around the wound, and in severe cases large blisters and necrosis may occur, and in individual cases systemic reactions or shock may appear. Smaller leeches can sometimes burrow into the vagina and cause vaginal bleeding, and can also invade the urethra and cause painful urination or blood in the urine. When swimming or washing the face in a pond, a leech can also burrow into the nasal cavity, causing intermittent nasal congestion, nosebleeds, nasal pain, runny nose or a sensation of movement inside the nose. Leech bites are mostly seen on the lower legs, the top of the feet and areas that have been soaked in water.
Emergency Treatment for Leech Bites
When a leech is attached to the skin, you must never pull it, otherwise the sucker will tighten more and more. Once a leech is pulled apart, its sucker will remain in the wound, which can easily cause infection or ulceration.
You can gently pat around the area where the leech is biting, so that the leech releases its sucker and falls off on its own due to the vibration. You can also drip or sprinkle tobacco tar, table salt, strong vinegar, alcohol, chili powder, lime, etc. onto the worm's body to make it release its sucker and fall off on its own.
After the leech falls off, if the wound keeps bleeding, you can use gauze to press the wound for 1-2 minutes to stop the bleeding, then clean the wound with 5% sodium bicarbonate solution, apply iodine tincture or methyl violet solution, and then bandage it with sterilized gauze. If the bleeding does not stop, you can sprinkle some Yunnan Baiyao or hemostatic powder on the wound.
After the leech falls off, if there is no bleeding, you can forcefully squeeze the dirty blood out of the wound, rinse it with baking soda water or clean water, and then apply iodine tincture, alcohol or mercurochrome to disinfect it.
If a leech burrows into the nasal cavity, you can drip honey into the nose to make it fall off. If this method does not work, you can use a basin of clean water, hold your breath and immerse your nostrils in the water, and keep stirring the water in the basin to lure the leech out of the nasal cavity.
If a leech invades the anus, vagina or urethra, etc., carefully check the area where the leech is attached, then drip table vinegar, honey or an anesthetic (such as 1% cocaine, 2% lidocaine) onto the worm's body. After the worm body retracts, remove it with tweezers.
Preventive Measures Against Leeches
Health education is essential. Do not take chances. Whether you are a resident living around a pond or a person visiting the area, do not use pond water to wash your face, swim or drink raw water. If leeches are found in rivers or ponds, you can mix blood clots with trichlorfon and put them into the water or around the paddy fields to induce the leeches to swallow or suck them, which can kill them quickly.
When working in paddy fields, you can wear tall boots to avoid bites from leeches in shallow water. When working or traveling in subtropical forests, wear long clothes and long pants and tightly fasten the collar, cuffs and pant legs to prevent land leeches from crawling in and biting.
Because leeches have medical value, the hirudin and histamine they secrete have anticoagulant and blood vessel-dilating effects, and leeches are also a very good traditional Chinese medicinal material, with effects such as treating stroke, high blood pressure, clearing blood stasis, amenorrhea and traumatic injuries. They can be artificially bred. However, during breeding, attention should be paid to the living environment of the leeches and the harm the leeches themselves cause to the human body, so as to avoid being bitten by diseased leeches and causing human illness.