Leeches might seem like relics of a bygone age of medicine, but they haven’t outlived their usefulness to people yet. The freshwater leech Helobdella austinensis can eat its weight in snails every day, suggesting that leeches could be used to control freshwater snail populations — and the host of diseases they carry, researchers report April 12 in Biology Letters.
Snails spread diseases such as schistosomiasis and fascioliasis to humans and livestock. Both of those conditions are caused by flukes that spend part of their life cycle in snails. In 2021, more than 250 million people — many of them children — needed preventive treatment against the blood fluke that causes schistosomiasis. A more effective prevention would be controlling snail populations that host the parasite (SN: 7/21/16).
Read the full article here