Determine the Microbial Flora of Leeches in North of Iran and Designing Antimicrobial Solution to Sterile the Leeches

Abstract

Medicinal leeches have an important and expanding role in plastic surgery and in the management of chronic venous insufficiency, but
infection can complicate their use. The aim of this study were designed a new protocol to sterilize or at least to reduce the number of colonies
of the bacteria on medical leeches. Bacterial flora of the surface, mouth, and gut of medical leeches was studied and bacterial identification
was conducted based on morphological and biochemical tests. The susceptibilities of these isolates to 11 antimicrobial agents were
investigated. Next, the leeches were immersed in susceptible antibiotic and the final results were studied. Biochemical and morphological
tests indicated that Aeromonasspp.is the dominant culturablesymbiont in leeches collected from north of Iran. Isolates were highly
susceptible to tetracycline, gentamicin, cotrimoxazole and ceftriaxone. According to results, tetracycline was superior to other antibiotic to
cleansing of bacteria from leeches. Aeromonasspp.were eliminated completely from all leeches and statistically significant cleaning was
obtained with the use of tetracycline and gentamicin solution after 4 days for 5.5 h daily