A LEECH SUCKS BLOOD FROM A PATIENT AT THE INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL LEECH CENTRE NEAR MOSCOW,...

A leech sucks blood from a patient at the International Medical Leech Centre in the village of Udelnoye, some 30 kms from Moscow. Medical leeches are seen by many as something that went out with the Middle Ages, but one leech farm near Moscow is making a tidy profit shipping them to doctors worldwide. The International Medical Leech Centre has two floors filled with jars of leeches -- parasites about the size of a finger which clamp themselves to skin, drinking blood to keep themselves alive -- which are fed on blood as they grow. Like many discarded elements of traditional medecine, 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, hirudo medicinalis in medical Latin, help relieve the symptoms of arthritis and other conditions. The centre sells the leeches throughout the former Soviet Union and to the West. One leech would cost about three dollars in France, and up to 25 dollars in Canada. They are starved for three months before selling to make them hungry enough, although the treatment does not hurt them. A leech can happily not eat for more than six months after a good feed. Picture taken December 23, 2003. REUTERS/Viktor Korotayev