Leeches

I have just had some dental work done.  I needed an injection and it did not hurt too much at all.  It made me wonder about leeches.  These are nasty little critters who feed on warm blooded creatures such as birds and mammals (that means you).  The only redeeming feature about these guys is they do not hurt when they bite you.  They do this by injecting a local anesthetic first.  They then inject an anticoagulant into you so that your blood does not coagulate.  Then they bite you and drink their fill and then drop off.  So for millions of years these guys have been doing this and getting away with it.  I wonder if doctors could use the same techniques when giving an injecting.  Inject a small local anesthetic first and then the needle.  I have had personal experience of leeches in Indonesia, Thailand and Laos.  They do not hurt, however they leave a bleeding wound which can become infected.  To remove leeches you can use tobacco (it is bad for leeches as well as people), salt, Tiger Balm, or a hot cigarette.  Do not pull them off as they might leave their mouth parts in you and then you will get an infection. 

This is a small leech.  If you have not met one of these then you have not visited damp rain forest areas.  They are a bit gruesome to put it mildly.  The last time I met leeches my reaction was to get my camera to take a picture.  The leeches were about the size of my thumb.  I then removed them and, being a vegetarian and an animal lover, sent them back to Hell where they belong.

Medical leeches have been used for many centuries and are still being used.  It is easy for surgeons to do organ transplants and such like.  Pumping in the blood is easy, taking it out is harder, this is where leeches are used.  So mankind has put men on the moon, yet cannot make a painless injection.  Something that leeches have been doing since mammals and birds (which are related to the dinosaurs) have roamed the Earth.