An employee of the International Medical Leech Centre
demonstrates with a leech on her face in the village of Udelnaya,
some 30 km (18.6 miles) from Moscow, December 4, 2009. The leech
farm makes a tidy profit shipping them to doctors worldwide. Like
many discarded elements of traditional medicine, they have made a
come-back as doctors have re-discovered their pain-killing
properties, which come from the chemicals they inject into the skin
when they bite it. Several medical trials have proven leeches help
relieve the symptoms of arthritis and other conditions.
REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov (RUSSIA HEALTH SOCIETY)
