Evaluating the anti-leech effects of tobacco methanolic extract compared with succinyle choline and some other anti-parasite drugs

Leeches are subcategory of hirudinea family with 650 species. Studies have shown that 50 species of them feed from mammalian blood. Leech infestation can lead to some side effects including: anemia, bleeding, subsequent biting infections, ache, itching, inflammation, high sensitivity and anaphylactic reactions. As no effective drug, without any side effect, has been offered for leeches, we decided to study the anti- leech effects of some herbal and chemical compounds. In this study, 100 Limnatis nilotica leeches were selected from spring waters from south region in Ilam province and the anti-leech effects of tobacco methanolic extract and also some other drugs such as mebendazole, succinyle-choline, metronidazole, triclabendazole, levamisol, niclosamide were investigated and compared with distilled water. First, leeches were put individually in a glass container with 600ml spring water. Then extract and drugs were added and their effects were screened for 720 min and time to paralyze kill and death of each leech was recorded. The results of this study showed that tobacco methanolic extract (600mg/ml) could kill the leaches in the average time of 17 minutes. Average death times for other drugs (triclabendazole, levamisole, niclosomide and metronidazole) were found 118.66, 7, 18.66 and 541.11 min, respectively. The low average paralysing and killing time of tabacco methanol extract, levamisol, niclosomide, triclabendazole reflect anti leech properties of these compounds and therefore they may be used in the treatment of infestation with limnatis nilotica in the future.