Leeches are annelids comprising the subclass Hirudinea. There are fresh water, terrestrial and marine leeches. Like their near relatives, the Oligochaeta, they share the presence of a clitellum. Like earthworms, leeches are hermaphrodites. The medicinal leech, Hirudo medicinalis, which is native to Europe, and its congeners have been used for clinical bloodletting for thousands of years.
All leech species are carnivorous. Some are predatory, feeding on a variety of invertebrates such as worms, snails, insect larvae, crustaceans, while a very few are haemophagic parasitic blood-sucking leeches, feeding on the blood of vertebrates such as amphibians, reptiles, waterfowl, fish, and mammals (including humans). The most important predators of leeches are fish, aquatic insects, crayfish and other leeches specialized for predation on leeches.
Hirudo
The leech has long been used in medicine, previously being used to remove poison from the human body, although today its use is mainly limited in limb reattachment procedures instead of the wide-ranging medical use in the past. Leeches have proven highly effective at preventing venous congestion after the surgical re-attachment of fingers, toes, ears and other parts of the body.
Leech saliva contains a number of compounds which assist in its feeding. An anaesthetic limits the sensations felt by the host (and thus reduces the chance of the host trying to detach the leech). A vasodilator causes the blood vessels near the leech to become dilated, and thus provide the leech with a better supply. Lastly, the leech saliva contains a peptide called hirudin, which is a highly effective anticoagulant. The leech needs this to prevent blood clots (which would block its feeding) from forming in the wound created by its mouthparts. These properties are difficult to achieve using other medical techniques, and it is for this reason that leeches have come back into clinical practice in the last 25 years.
Because of the minuscule amounts of hirudin present in leeches, it is impractical to harvest the substance for widespread medical use. Hirudin (and related substances) are synthesised using recombinant techniques.
2007 Alam Lintah Al-Huda enterprise. Hakcipta Terpelihara.
Alam Lintah Al Huda Makes Good In Breeding & Processing Leeches
Alam Lintah Al Huda Enterprise which develops and sells leech products, located in Kg. Kepayang, Simpang Pulai, Perak, the breeding centre are only 13 km from Ipoh City, the farm are one of the biggest commercial leech breeding farming in Malaysia, with 36 ponds it have began progressive production past 7 months since 1st of May 2007.
The company is targeting the commercial breeding of leeches in 100 ponds by early 2008 to help meet the shortfall in the supply of leeches both within the country and overseas. Medical and cosmetic technology development involving exotic fauna is not new in Europe and this is an opportunity for the company to venture into this new and most potential agro industries in Malaysia.
Alam Lintah wants to be not only the first company in such a venture but also the primary producer of leeches in Asia and progress in the fields of medicine and cosmetics.
About 2 kg of leeches are placed in a pond of 1,200 sq ft and two feet deep, and for every leech bred there, we get 15,000 leeches. The reproduction process takes about two weeks, and five to six months for them to mature, when they are harvested.
Please call us xxxxxxxx for any enquiry or email to us
Alam Lintah wants to be not only the first company in such a venture but also the primary producer of leeches in Asia and progress in the fields of medicine and cosmetics.
About 2 kg of leeches are placed in a pond of 1,200 sq ft and two feet deep, and for every leech bred there, we get 15,000 leeches. The reproduction process takes about two weeks, and five to six months for them to mature, when they are harvested.
Please email to us for any enquiry
Haemophagic leeches attach to their hosts and remain there until they become full, at which point they fall off to digest. Leeches' bodies are composed of 34 segments. They all have an anterior (oral) sucker formed from the first six segments of their body, which is used to connect to a host for feeding, and also release an anesthetic to prevent the host from feeling the leech. They use a combination of mucus and suction (caused by concentric muscles in those six segments) to stay attached and secrete an anti-clotting enzyme into the host's blood stream. Some species of leech will nurture their young, providing food, transport, and protection, which is unusual behavior in an invertebrate.
Alam Lintah Al-Huda Enterprise (IPO259229-T)
Kampung Pengkalan Baharu, Kampung Kepayang, 31300 Simpang Pulai,
Perak Darul Ridzuan.
Tel : Ustaz Sharani bin Ibrahim (016 - 520 9731)
Norizan bin Mehat (012 - 5090731)
Saipol bin Ibrahim (016 - 520 3049)
e-Mail : banilon@yahoo.com
Specialized in farming leeches for export, trading, restructure, equipment and course.
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