Comments

• I recently had a terrestrial leech attach to my leg in the Northern Rivers NSW. These bites are always itchy and sometimes weep for at least a week. This time within a week I spent a couple of hours swimming in an inland creek where the usual creek leeches have dissappeared since the arrival of European carp. When moving out of the water I noticed what appeared to be blood clots on the leech bite. After brushing at them, discovered they were two small bright blood coloured leeches about 0.5cm in length firmly attached at the original bite site. Is it possible that the terrestrial leech lays eggs in the host causing itchiness and weeping, and die or fall off after a week (when itchiness stops). And because I spent a long period of time in the water this time they hatched at the bite site. The itchiness stopped immediately. Even though my partner and I had other fresh cut and scatch wounds this leech bite site was the only sign of these tiny red suckers..... nightmareish