Leeches are capable of taking 5 - 10 ml of blood per feeding, almost 10 times its own weight. They produce an almost painless bite, and once latched on, produce saliva which contains an anticoagulant and an anaesthetic in order to feed. Once grossly swollen, the leech shall simply fall off. They have 3 jaws and 100 teeth. Salting a leech while it is sucking your blood could make it vomit into the wound. If a leech is cut, it is not capable of a regeneration ability similar to worms. It shall simply die. Do not rip a leech off, for should the mouth parts be firmly attached, they may be left behind in the wound, thereby increasing risk of infection. Leeches may be used for a wide range of disease states, including the following chronic skin diseases, such as psoriasis, eczema, cutaneous leishmaniasis and other hard-to-heal wounds. One most important use of leeches is bloodletting.
