Attached to their patients.

• Position: MEDICINE - Brief article

Leeches--small, bloodsucking animals related to earthworms--are making a comeback in the medical world. Surgeons have found that the medicinal leech, or Hirudo medicinalis, helps heal skin grafts and reattached fingers and ears. When a leech attaches to a patient, it secretes chemicals that keep blood from clotting and increase the flow through reattached blood vessels. These squirmy creatures have a long history in the world of medicine. In ancient Rome, they were used to "bleed" patients...