【Watch Suicide Squad Online】

Medical bills are Watch Suicide Squad Onlineoften littered with bizarre line items. If you're in Russia, those little charges might include half a dozen slimy, slithering leeches.

About 10 million of the blood-sucking invertebrates are prescribed in Russia every year, offering many people an affordable alternative for blood-thinning medicines, the New York Timesreported this weekend.

As Russia's economy tanks -- due to a mix of low oil prices, sanctions, and military spending -- the country's state-run medical system has also suffered. Medicinal leeches cost less than one U.S. dollar per icky blob, and doctors say leeches' venom is a low-cost preventative treatment for stroke and heart disease.

SEE ALSO: Bed bugs were blood-sucking pests even 11,000 years ago

"When you do it the first time, you think, 'My God, leeches!'" Elena Kalinicheva, a patient at a walk-in medical center in Moscow, told NYT. She was there for her weekly leech treatment, which she seeks to treat her lower back pain.

"But after you go through it, you understand there is nothing to worry about," she told the newspaper.

Via Giphy

A typical treatment in Russia involves applying three to seven of the ravenous worms, which ooze their blood-thinning venom during 30- to 40-minute sessions. Once leeches are peeled away, the resulting wounds leak blood for another six hours, until the anticoagulant chemicals wear off.

Leech therapy was standard medical practice until the mid-1800s, and historical records show the treatment was common in Ancient Egyptian, Indian, Greek, and Arab cultures. But leeches fell out of favor with many doctors as claims about their healing effects proved to be hollow. Plus applying leeches is gross and uncomfortable.

Mashable Trend Report Decode what’s viral, what’s next, and what it all means. Sign up for Mashable’s weekly Trend Report newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

But a slew of scientific studies in recent years have shown that leeches do offer medical benefits in limited applications. For people who can't afford or access expensive prescription drugs, they remain a practical solution, even if some its power lies in the placebo effect.

Russia isn't the only place experiencing something of a leech revival. The blood-suckers are creeping back into clinics and hospitals around the world, including in the U.S.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

About 6,000 leeches are used each year in the U.S., according to BioTherapeutics Education and Research Foundation, though not for treating heart-related issues as in Russia.

Instead, leeches are used to help heal skin grafts, by draining pooled blood from under the graft and restoring blood circulation in blocked veins. They also remove excess blood from severed body parts that have been reattached.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved leeches for such uses in 2004, when it gave French company Ricarimpex SAS clearance to market the aquatic animals as medical devices.

In Europe, meanwhile, patients can get the therapeutic benefits of leeches without slapping any of the slimy creatures on their arms, heads, and legs. Large pharmaceutical companies now market medicines based on the blood-thinning chemicals in leech venom.

Medical experts in Malaysia have said that it's of "paramount importance" to use leech therapy more frequently in plastic and reconstructive surgery, given how easy leeches are to apply and the reduced side-effects, compared to more invasive methods.

Leeches naturally thrive in a variety of environments, including rivers, ponds, estuaries, and saltwater, which is great for leeches -- less so for unsuspecting swimmers. But many of Russia's medical leeches are raised in farms by experts in white lab coats.

Self-prescribers can also buy them at farms' stores. Nadezhda Loba, who took home 100 leeches in a plastic jug, told the NYT she applies the worms on her temples to treat conjunctivitis.

---

Featured Video For You

---

This tiny iPhone gadget can help you detect hazards lurking in the air

---

• Deals
• Digital Culture
• Social Good
• Entertainment
• Life
• Science
• Shopping
• Tech

• Classified Zuma spacecraft may have failed after SpaceX launch
• What the giant James Webb telescope will see that Hubble can't
• What the giant James Webb telescope will see that Hubble can't
• 'Doom Patrol's Madame Rouge is the mystery that keeps on giving
• The Best Tech Deals and Discounts for Students
• Every electric vehicle with at least 300 miles of range
• Google will finally give meeting hosts the power of making people shut up
• 20 years later, 'Donnie Darko' feels finally fit for our times
• Panthers vs. Sharks 2025 livestream: Watch NRL for free
• Google will finally give meeting hosts the power of making people shut up

• What the hell is going on in Russia?
• Twitter is now worth less than its Chinese clone
• Hulu renews 'Difficult People' for third season
• iPhone 7 subjected to bizarre rubber torture for your amusement
• The battle for Mosul is being live streamed on Facebook
• Shepard Smith discusses his sexuality while defending Roger Ailes
• Airborne cats will fly into your heart in new photography book
• No, baby boomers, millennials aren't poor because they eat smashed avocado
• A very sleepy Kathy Bates stayed up all night because you monsters wouldn't stop tweeting her
• Chrissy Teigen has a budget friendly birthday gift idea: Nudes

• It's Time to Reinvent the Digital Pen
• The 9 best crime shows on Peacock for when you want to be a detective
• SZA's mom has some words of wisdom for coping with stress and hello to our new mentor
• What's the difference between a healthy and abusive relationship? Reddit can help.
• LinkedIn launches ‘Zip,’ a brain
• Grandpa Biden and Trump fighting memes are the only thing that can save America
• James Michael Tyler, beloved Central Perk manager Gunther on 'Friends', is dead at 59
• 'Invasion' on Apple TV+ is a slow burn best watched at once
• Trump's national security strategy omits climate change as a threat
• What is a VPN Router?

• Nvidia Pascal Goes Mobile: GeForce GTX 1080, 1070 & 1060 Preview
• I will delete Facebook, but you can pry Instagram from my cold, dead hands
• Remember Palm? The company is back with (wait for it) new earbuds.
• The rumors are true: Timothée Chalamet used to mod Xbox controllers
• Why are TikTok comments suddenly full of religious messages?
• 11 best tweets of the week, including lunch meats, the Oregon Trail, and beans
• 'Eternals' brings great new heroes to the MCU but leaves us wondering why
• 'Invasion' on Apple TV+ is a slow burn best watched at once
• Earth sends Cassini a whole lot of love after the mission comes to a bittersweet end
• 'Lose fat in 5 days' exercise videos are harmful for fitness beginners