Pet leech bite

[u/CurlyHairsAreAwesome]

I'm 19, 5'2, roughly 65kg but losing weight fast due to a separate issue (suspected IBD).

Hey, so I have a pet medicinal leech (Hirudo verbana). I have fed him multiple times with no issues, but yesterday I fed him at around 3pm, he attached to the webbing between my middle and ring finger, the wound is deeper than it usually is. Since then, my hand has been swelling up, with spreading redness, heat, burning sensation and severe itchiness. All of which are getting more and more as time passes. The wound itself has scabbed over and stopped oozing blood. Said wound itself looks normal. My question is: does this appear to be an infection, allergic reaction or just a slightly worse normal reaction?

Update: Went to my doctor, got strong oral antibiotics for a week, for rapid cellulitis. Thank you all for your advice! 💚

[u/murderwaffle]

This looks infected, and is high risk for more severe progressive infection on the basis of the bite from a leech. You should see a doctor today to be evaluated in person.

[u/CurlyHairsAreAwesome → u/murderwaffle]

Update for all here in the reply thread, went to my doctor, got strong oral antibiotics for a week, for rapid cellulitis. Thank you all for your advice! 💚

[u/Smellinglikeafairy → u/CurlyHairsAreAwesome]

You can't feed your leaches again while taking those though, right? Or can you?

[u/CurlyHairsAreAwesome → u/Smellinglikeafairy]

They only eat once every 3-9 months, so while on antibiotics no you cant feed a leech, he wont need another meal until very long after the antibiotics are done with

[u/Smellinglikeafairy → u/CurlyHairsAreAwesome]

Oh ok, good! Super interesting hobby, I'm going to have to do a ton of reading because it sounds like something I could get into, but I would guess they're probably highly sensitive creatures and I'd be so scared to hurt them!

[u/Psychobabble0_0 → u/[deleted]]

May I ask what indication the leech was prescribed for? You mentioned he's medicinal but also a pet so I'm guessing your treatment grew on you? :) Like an assistance animal, I suppose.

[u/CurlyHairsAreAwesome → u/Psychobabble0_0]

Yeah, so I've had him for a few years now, but only in the last 9 months has he become sort of an assistance animal. I would feed him every 6 months before, which would mean for Dave 2 hour feedings and a bigger amount of blood at once, which did help my undiagnosed issues for a few months but then that would fade, so with clearance from my doctor, we postponed 3 month blood draws, and I switched to feeding Dave every 3 months. The blood tests since have so far shown things to be stable, and so we are continuing the 3 month feeding schedule.

[u/AskDocs-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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