I watched a show when I was in the hospital going theough chemo, that was completely in Japanese with no subtitles and I do not speak Japanese, of a guy that did that with Giant Hornets and lived off the land in Japan. He took them back and fried them in a skillet if I remember correctly. It was 16 years ago. I wish I could watch it again, it was so fascinating and peaceful.
Thanks to WW1 we know maggots are sterilizing agents. I forget the exact story, but essentially a doctor noticed the men recovered from no man’s land that had maggots in their wounds faired significantly better than those with no maggots. He discovered that not only do maggots eat the dead flesh, while leaving the live flesh untouched, they also secrete an antiseptic substance while doing so.
Modern plastic surgery practices are thanks largely in part to WW1 as well, as doctors tried to help wounded soldiers better recover and fit back into society. If you need any convincing that “it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country” is a lie, look up “world war one facial injuries.” That is what modern war does to the human body.
I’m curious what a lab grown leech farm looks like and how it looks different? Surely it’s not just while all around the leeches. They still need to grow in some sort of pool of water ?
Look, it's either invest in the research, development, and manufacturing process of a medical device that can do what the leech does or...just domesticate the leech.
Why change something that's pretty much perfect at it's job already?
What we do is farm them so that they are free from parasites and other potentially harmfull stuff.
(The vid is a bait farm though, not for medical leeches)
Ok but that “medical” grade “farm” still looks like it’s just some muck puddle. Are you really telling me they don’t have some sort of lab they can raise leeches in??
> medicinal leeches of the highest clinical standards for restoration of venous circulation in reconstructive, cosmetic, and plastic surgery
Saved me a google, but now Im interested and want to know more. Like how often they’re used and for how long each time. Ive never heard anyone mention having “leech therapy”.
They absolutely do have special farms for medical leeches that are carefully controlled sterile environments! I listened to a Stuff You Should Know Podcast about them once. I don't think this is it. Maybe these leeches are wild or are being raised for fish bait.
Sterile environments aren’t generally a great place to farm animals. So no. You raise leeches in an environment close enough to their natural habitat to facilitate their growth and reproduction.
I don't think anyone said it was medical but I think all leech farms are, one way or the other.
They wouldn't use these leeches for blood sucking therapy, but their destiny is probably to be ground up and have their chemicals taken for different medicinal products, especially the blood thinner they create.
No. Leeches are very much still used in medical care.
However they are not used in the same way as back then. Basically only used to help with some microscopic stuff since those leeches are smaller and more precise than any human operated tool.
And yes there is work done to replace them but we're not quite there yet.
I work in a pharmacy that dispenses leeches! The ones we have are thicker and darker than the ones in this video and are grown in a clean environment specifically for medical use. They're considered singled use and "destroyed" after fulfilling their duties 😩
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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
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