蜜芽传媒

Biopharm Leeches is the UK鈥檚 only leech farm. Based in Swansea, it produces leeches for both human and animal medicine.

In this programme, presenter Mariclare Carey-Jones meets the team breeding the leeches, to find out what鈥檚 involved. 鈥淲e produce somewhere in the region of 50 thousand leeches鈥� says Carl Peters-Bond, Quality Systems Manager at Biopharm. It鈥檚 no easy task because, according to Carl, leeches 鈥渁re sensitive to atmospheric pressure, they鈥檙e sensitive to light, they鈥檙e sensitive to heat, they鈥檙e sensitive to metal in the waters. They have moods and you can鈥檛 put them together when they鈥檙e in a bad mood - they cannibalise鈥�.

Despite the difficulties in breeding them, leeches play a vital part in our health service. Most of the leeches produced at Biopharm are used by the NHS in plastic surgery and micro surgery procedures, such as skin grafts and re-attaching fingers. Others are sent to hospitals worldwide, 鈥渨e鈥檝e got offices in Japan, America, Norway and other places; they use them primarily in their hospitals鈥� says Office Manager Cassie Rees. The leeches are also used in veterinary medicine, 鈥減rimarily in dogs you鈥檒l see aural hematomas, same thing as a cauliflower ear on a rugby player鈥� and these respond well to leeches, according to Cassie, and where their breeding time is over, they play a useful part in the fishing industry.

As well as seeing the process of breeding these leeches first hand, Mariclare will also find out how they are distributed across the world - can it really be as simple as popping the leeches in the post? And she will find out what a leech feels like when it鈥檚 wriggling in her hand.

Produced and presented by Mariclare Carey-Jones.